PA  ^So  .2  1 


HISTORICAL   SKETCHES 


OF 


O'CONNELL  AND  HIS  FRIENDS; 


INCLUDING 

RT.    REV.    DRS.    DOYLE    AND     MILNER THOMAS    MOORE JOHN 

LAWLESS THOMAS    FURLONG RICHARD    LALOR    SHIEL 

THOJLA.S   STEELE COUNSELLOR  ERIC THOMAS  ADDIS 

EMMET WILLIAM     COBBETT SIR     MICHAEL 

o'lOGHLEN,    ETC.,    ETC., 


WITH 


A  GLANCE  AT  THE  PUTURE  DESTINY  OF  IRELAND. 


BY   THOMAS    D.   McGEE. 


"  I  LOVK  agitation,  when  there  is  cause  for  it ;  the  alarm-bell  which  startles 


the  inhabitants  of  a  city,  saves  them  from  being  burned  in  their  beds." — Burkk. 


FOURTH   EDITION. 


BOSTON: 

PATRICK     DONAHOE, 

23  Franklin  Street. 

1854. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1845, 

BY    DONAHOE    AND    ROHAN, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Massachusett*. 


L^SS^'"^ 


l^U 


Stereotyped   by 

GEORGE   A.   CURTIS; 

NSW  ENGLAND  TYPE  AND  STEREOTYPE  FOUNDRY. 


a&^i]&a<&A:ea<©'»» 


TO  THE  CITIZENS  OF  THESE  UNITED  STATES, 

ESPECIALLY  TO  THOSE  OF  IRISH  DESCENT, 

WHOSE     HONESTY,     MORALITY,    AND     INDEPENDENCE,     CONFER 

HONOR    ON    THEIR    NATIVE-LAND, 

AND   DIGNITY  AND  BENEFITS  ON  THEIR  ADOPTED  COUNTRY; 

AS  CONTAINING    SOME   FACTS  WHICH  THEY   SHOULD   KNOW,  AND 

EXAMPLES    WHICH    THEY    MAY   IMITATE 

WITH    PROFIT   TO    SOCIETY, 

IS    RESPECTFULLY    DEDICATED, 

B7  THE  iLUTHOR. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

The  name  of  my  immortal  subject  has  been  familiar  to  the 
civilized  world  for  nearly  forty  years.  The  free  of  the  earth 
venerate  it — the  tyrants  and  task-masters  of  men  hate  its 
utterance,  so  ominous  of  the  annihilation  of  their  unhal- 
lowed caste.  Were  those  who  have  been  benefited  by  the 
labors  of  his  life,  to  assemble  in  congress,  at  the  call  of 
gTatitude,  an  assembly  would  be  formed  without  a  parallel 
in  all  past  history.  The  Asiatic  of  the  Indian  Peninsula 
would  leave  his  rice  crops  by  the  banks  of  the  sacred 
Ganges  ;  Africa  would  send  forth  her  dusky  deputies ;  the 
West  Indies  their  emancipated  dark  men ;  Canada  her 
grateful  reformers,  and  Europe  the  noblest  of  her  free  and 
of  her  fallen  races.  The  voice  of  Kosciusko,  from  the 
tomb,  would  command  some  son  worthy  of  Poland,  to  join 
the  great  chorus  of  humanity,  in  singing  praises  to  the  com- 
mon benefactor.  It  would  be  a  testimonial  equal  to  its 
cause,  if  all  the  world  were  represented,  and  not  otherwise. 

It  is  the  character  of  true  greatness  to  attract  greatness, 
as  the  magnet  draws  towards  itself  the  finely-tempered 
steel.  Of  this  truth,  the  life  of  Daniel  O'Connell,  like  that 
of  a  very  differently  constituted  hero — Bonaparte — is  a 
strcmg  exemplification,  and  much  of  O'Connell's  public 
character  and  glory  will  be  found  to  emanate  from  his 
"  friends." 

The  age  we  live  in  certainly  excels  all  antiquity  in  the 
art  of  making  professions,  although  it  falls  decidedly  benind 
the  past  in  men  of  genuine  greatness  of  soul.  There  is 
hardly  a  public  man  who  has  earned  an  emin  mt  character 
for  consistency,  although  many  are  distingiushed  by  start- 
ing theories,  and  afterwards  tamely  suffering  them  to  be 
1* 


6 

run  down  by  the  roused  indignation  of  dominant  custom  and 
dogged  prejudice.  It  is  cheering  to  human  nature,  and 
promises  better  things  for  humanity,  to  find,  in  O'Connell, 
a  man  who  has  outlived,  in  the  obduracy  of  a  steady  pur- 
pose, an  unnatural  alliance  of  republican  prejudice,  monar- 
chical hatred,  and  religious  animosity ;  who  has  been  forty 
years  before  the  world,  without  giving  it  reason  to  despise 
or  detest  him ;  who  has  overturned  more  than  one  monop- 
oly of  his  o^vn  government,  and  aided,  with  no  unfelt  hand, 
the  struggles  of  every  cotemporary  nation  and  people 
aspiring  to  freedom.  If  he  has  undertaken  much,  he  has 
achieved  much.  Ireland  rejoices  in  her  free  altars,  and 
open  corporations ;  England  in  the  abolition  of  her  odious 
rotten  boroughs ;  the  West  Indies  in  the  overthrow  of 
the  most  indefensible  and  disgraceful  of  tyrannies,  that  of 
color. 

The  great  work  of  universal  emancipation  is  scarcely 
commenced.  One  of  the  first  in  the  field,  amongst  those 
who  labored,  and  thought,  and  suffered  contumely  and  re- 
proach for  its  sake,  was  the  Liberator  of  Ireland.  Whoever 
may  live  to  see  the  day  when  slavery  shall  cease,  if  hap- 
pily such  a  day  will  dawTi  upon  this  globe  of  ours,  will  see 
also,  the  statue  of  O'Connell  in  every  free  senate — and 
hear,  in  every  land,  the  wise  and  honorable  of  that  age,  re- 
peat his  story  A\4th  reverence.  Alone,  or  perhaps  side  by 
side  with  Washington,  he  will  be  placed  in  the  first  rank  of 
those  worthies  of  all  the  world,  whose  souls  were  uncribbed 
by  custom,  and  whose  benevolent  labors  were  unconfined  to 
any  family,  or  nation  of  the  earth.  In  him  the  everlasting 
Church  will  claim  a  champion,  unexcelled  amid  laymen 
for  the  severity  of  his  mission.  In  him  Humanity  will 
claim  a  priest,  entitled  to  administer  at  her  high  altar.  In 
him  Liberty  wall  boast  a  model  for  all  her  future  reformers. 


CHAPTER  ONE. 

Th£  Family  of  Mr.  O^Co?ineU. — His  Birth  and  Educa- 

tio?i,  collegiate  and  legal. 

The  O'Connells  are  of  unadulterated  Milesian  origin. 
Their  history  is  inseparable  from  that  of  Ireland  itself,  and 
will  now  continue  so  forever.  The  present  head  of  the 
"  sept,"  was,  in  his  youth,  as  we  are  told,  not  unconscious 
of  the  value  of  the  honorable  fame  transmitted  by  a  long 
line  of  brave  and  pious  forefathers,  for,  like  his  own,  their 
patriotic  deeds  were  numerous  enough  to  transmit  some 
rays  of  honor  to  the  humblest  and  remotest  of  their  de- 
scendants. 

Kerry,  the  patrimony  of  the  family,  anciently  styled 
Iveragh,  was  an  independent  toparchy,  amenable  to  the 
kinsfs  of  Connaught,  in  all  matters  concerning  the  general 
welfare  of  that  kingdom.  Originally,  it  appears,  this  inher- 
itance extended  some  distance  into  the  adjoining  counties  of 
Clare  and  Limerick  ;  but  treachery,  invasion,  and  hospital- 
ity, ultimately  narrowed  its  limits,  so  that  it  now  yields  less 
than  £5,000  per  annum,  nor  has  its  revenue  much  exceeded 
this  sum  at  any  time,  since  the  memorable  rebellion  and 
confiscation  of  1641. 

The  O'Connells  have  been,  from  first  to  last,  an  agitating 
family,  firm  haters  of  the  Saxons,  bold  foragers  in  the  hour 
of  national  struggle,  and  ever  ready  to  wipe  out  in  blood 
any  insult  offered  to  their  clan.  An  Irish  MS.  preserved 
in  the  British  Museum,  mentions  a  Daniel  O'Connell, 
who  successfully  opposed  an  invasion  of  the  Scotch,  on 
the  northern  coast  of  Ireland,  in  the  year  1245.  A  yet 
earlier  record  (for  these  are  early  dates  in  the  dilapidated 
annals  of  modern  Ireland)  is  preserved,  of  the  courage  and 
patriotism  of  this  family,  many  of  them  having  fallen  on 
the  memorable  field  of  Clontarf,  in  defence  of  the  standard 
of  "  Brian  the  Brave."  In  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
the  O'Connell  of  Iveragh  made  a  treaty  with  that  sove- 
reign, by  whidi  he  was  guarantied  the  security  of  his  prop- 


erty  and  the  enjoyment  of  his  power.  The  son  of  this 
leagner  is  mentioned  in  history,  soon  after,  as  High 
Sheriff  of  Kerry.  When  the  last  monarch  of  the  Stuarts 
besought  the  land  he  had  repeatedly  injured,  for  support 
against  that  he  had  too  pliantly  conciliated,  John  O'Connell 
of  Iveragh,  raised  a  regiment  of  his  clansmen,  and  poured 
out  of  his  mountain  fastness,  to  aid  the  dethroned  mon- 
arch at  the  Boyne.  In  that  desperate  struggle  between  a 
wise  knave  and  a  foolish  one,  which  stained  the  ill-fated 
field  of  Aughrim  in  Ireland's  true  regal  blood,  and  reddened 
the  broad  waters  of  the  Shannon,  and  flooded  the  banks  of 
"  Boyne's  ill-fated  river,"  the  O'Connells  remained  firm  to 
the  royal  weakling,  and  suffered,  as  all  the  best  blood  of 
their  land  have,  by  their  fidelity.  The  remnant  of  their 
regiment,  sailed  with  Sarsfield  to  France ;  some  returned 
to  Kerry,  but  the  vast  majority  lay  dead  on  the  battle-field, 
or  cold  within  the  ramparts  of  Limerick  city.  In  the  lapse 
of  two  generations,  Derrynane  Abbey,  the  old  residence  of 
Iveragh's  toparchs,  passed  into  other  hands,  and  ultimately 
crumbled  into  dust,  in  mournful  consonance  with  the  for- 
tunes of  its  rightful  possessors.  The  present  abbey,  which 
is  of  modern  date,  stands  near  the  ruins  of  its  venerable 
predecessor.  Its  doors  are  ever  open  to  the  stranger,  the 
board  is  laden  as  of  old,  and  the  vintage  of  foreign  lands 
and  the  usquebaugh  of  the  mountains,  are  offered  as  liber- 
ally as  any  O'Connell  of  the  olden  time  could  wish. 

Of  that  portion  of  the  family  who  emigrated  to  France 
after  the  evacuation  of  Limerick  in  1691,  several  rose  to 
eminence  in  the  service  of  various  continental  powers. 
Their  names,  rendered  illustrious  in  many  a  bloody  field  of 
Austria  and  France,  rang  through  their  native  isle,  cheer- 
ing the  hearts  of  their  kinsmen,  and  warming  others  into 
emulation.  The  last  of  eminence  disappeared  a  few  years 
ago  from  the  stage — Count  Daniel  O'Connell,  uncle  to  the 
more  illustrious  bearer  of  that  name.  This  veteran  had  had 
the  singular  fortune  of  being  a  general  in  the  service  of 
France,  and  a  colonel  in  that  of  England  at  the  same  time. 
At  the  period  of  Bonaparte's  return  from  Elba,  he  en- 
tered the  English  army,  and  received  a  colonelcy,  the  du- 
ties of  which  command  he  continued  to  fulfil,  until  Charles 
the  Tenth  mounted  the  Bourbon  throne  by  the  right  of  a 
legitimacy,  too  painfully  evident  in  the  sequel  of  his  reign  * 
when  he  was  restored  to  his  rank  and  command.     Count 


9 

O'Connell  was,  we  believe,  a  Hugnonot,  and  has  left  behind 
him,  the  reputation  of  a  brave  officer. 

The  father  of  the  Liberator,  Morgan  O'Connell,  of  Car- 
hen,  mingled  the  high  blood  of  these  illustrious  soldiers, 
with  that  of  a  race  no  less  celebrated  in  the  annals  of  West- 
ern Ireland.  His  mother  was  a  daughter  of  the  O'Donahoe 
Dhuv,  or  the  black  chief  of  that  clan,  whose  banners  for  ages 
had  waved  over  Killamey  from  the  summits  of  an  hundred 
hills  ;  whose  bugles  for  the  early  chase,  or  trumpets  for  the 
battle,  were  for  centuries  re-echoed  from  the  deep  glens  of 
the  "  Eagle's  Nest,"  and  the  valleys  of  Mangerton  and  the 
Reeks.  His  wife  was  Catharine,  daughter  of  John  O'Mul- 
laine,  of  Whitechurch,  Co.  Cork  ;  he  was  one  of  twenty- 
two  children  by  the  same  mother,  more  than  half  of  whom 
lived  to  the  age  of  eighty  years  and  upwards.  At  the  time 
of  Daniel's  birth,  he  was  far  from  opulent,  but  possessed 
nevertheless  a  sufficiency  to  keep  up  the  honor  and  dignity 
of  his  house,  and  to  bestow  upon  his  sons,  John,  Daniel,  and 
James,  the  advantages  of  a  continental  education.  This, 
however,  was  a  matter  of  necessity,  not  choice ;  for,  accord- 
ing to  the  brutal  penal  code,  no  Catholic  could  educate  his 
child  in  Ireland,  without  being  chargeable  of  felony.  The 
character  of  Morgan  O'Connell  was  that  of  an  easy  and 
plain  country  gentleman,  without  arrogance  to  those  of 
humbler  state,  and  above  the  meanness  of  courting  the 
smiles  of  men,  whose  greater  wealth  was  their  only  claim 
to  distinction.  He  was  a  model  of  the  old  Irish  gentleman 
— fond  of  the  chase — partial  to  the  follies  of  his  tenantry — 
a  fond  father,  and  a  reproachless  husband. 

The  6th  of  August,  1775,  is  ever  memorable  in  the  an- 
nals of  Ireland,  as  the  birth-day  of  her  Liberator.  The 
house  in  which  this  event  occurred,  yet  stands,  although  in 
a  ruinous  condition  ;  the  roof  has  fallen  in,  and  the  wall- 
flower shakes  in  every  blast  on  the  crumbling  eaves.  It 
stands  apart  from  the  village  of  Cahirciveen,  at  a  short  dis- 
tance from  the  highway,  which  no  traveller  passes,  of  high 
or  low  degree,  without  pausing  to  gaze  upon  the  classic 
spot,  where  was  born  the  Washington  of  Europe.  The 
year  of  1775  is  one  memorable  in  the  annals  of  Freedom. 
In  that  year  America  entered  on  her  long  and  glorious  war 
with  Great  Britain  ;  in  that  year  Henry  Grattan  entered 
the  prejudiced  and  dependent  Irish  Commons,  whom,  after 
a  seven  years'  war  with  prejudice  and  pati'onag'e,  he  enfran- 


m 

chised  ;  in  that  year,  Daniel  O'Connell  was  bom,  to  "be  the 
saviour  of  his  people.  Some  coincidences  in  historj  seem  as 
if  directly  ordained  by  Providence,  and  of  that  class  I  know 
none  more  worthy  of  remark  than  the  one  I  have  just 
mentioned. 

Of  the  childhood  of  Mr.  O'Connell  little  more  is  remem- 
bered than  that  he  was  of  a  bustling  and  intrepid  nature 
fond  of  physical  exercises,  as  most  healthy  children  are, 
and  full  of  pranks  and  playfulness.  His  first,  and  only 
Irish  tutor,  was  an  aged  priest,  who  often  partook  the  hospi- 
tality of  his  father's  house,  and  who,  as  he  became  more  en- 
feebled by  age,  made  it  in  great  part  his  residence.  He 
was  one  of  those,  numerous  in  his  day,  who  suffered  a 
lingering  martyrdom  for  his  faith  ;  not  a  martyrdom  which 
causes  death,  but  one  which,  instead  of  taking  life  away, 
spares  the  existence  it  has  rendered  burthensome.  A  man 
of  black-letter  knowledge,  patient  and  self-denying ;  one 
who  had  siiffered  too  much  to  love  the  world  and  its  ways, 
but  who  prayed  too  much  to  hate  either.  A  Christian,  in 
the  truly  evangelical  meaning  of  the  word,  since  his  faith 
in  Christ  Jesus  brought  him  but  sneers  and  persecution.  A 
scholar,  whose  yiews  were  all  impregnated  with  the  salt  of 
sound  theology,  and  whose  manner  of  instruction  was  often 
tinctured  with  the  solemn  gloom  of  the  cloister.  Such  was 
the  first  priest,  with  whom  the  future  Emancipator  became 
acquainted,  and  it  would  be  idle  to  deny  that  this  good 
man's  character  had  deeply  impressed  him  with  that  high 
admiration,  amounting  almost  to  reverence,  ever  manifested 
towards  the  clergy,  and  that  lively  sense  of  the  necessity  of 
a  Christian  life,  the  practice  of  which  is  one  of  the  most  glo- 
rious traits  in  his  character.  The  instructions  of  this  good 
man,  however,  were  chiefly  elementary  ;  his  pupil  at  an 
early  age  was  sent  to  the  French  college  of  Louvain,  and 
afterwards  removed  to  that  of  St.  Omers,  where,  under  the 
teachings  of  the  Jesuits,  he  acquired  that  self-control  and 
regularity  of  habits,  that  profoundly  Catholic  cast  of  mind, 
that  sound  theological  knowledge,  and  that  invincible  logic, 
of  which  the  libellers  of  Ireland,  and  the  enemies  of  his  faith 
have  often  confessed  the  force  in  the  bitterness  of  defeat. 

Saint  Omers  was  then  a  favorite  resort  of  Irish  students ; 
the  descendants  of  the  old  Irish  emigrants  in  France  chiefly 
frequented  it ;  and  it  must  have  been  a  glorious  sight  to  be- 
hold the  amity  which  subsisted  between  these  two  branches 


11 

of  the  old  Milesian  tree — the  one  flourishing  in  a  free  for- 
eign soil,  the  other  preferring  to  stand  on  Irish  ground,  in 
defiance  of  every  storm,  still  aspiring  under  tlie  multitude 
of  its  chains.  In  all  their  games  the  French-Irish  portion 
of  the  students  sought  out  the  countrymen  of  their  brave 
fathers ;  in  their  studies  they  clambered  up  the  steeps  of 
fame  together,  and  wo  be  to  him  who  breathed  a  word  of 
reproach  against  Ireland  or  France  within  the  walls  of  St. 
Omers. 

Mr.  O'Connell,  it  is  said,  had  been  intended  by  his  pa- 
rents for  the  church,  but  he  felt  within  himself  the  prompt- 
ings of  a  different  mission,  and  with  the  courage  of  a  true 
Catholic,  feeling  by  anticipation,  the  responsibilities  of  the 
priesthood,  he  firmly  expressed  his  determination  not  to  enter 
on  a  profession  for  which  he  considered  himself  incapable. 
Notwithstanding  this,  he  ever  admired  the  character  of  his 
much  reviled  instructors,  and  truly  may  we  believe  him 
when  in  his  old  age  he  exclaims  to  the  Premier  Earl  of 
England — "  I  love  the  Jesuits — I  honor  the  Jesuits.'"^ 

Many  anecdotes  are  related  of  the  student  life  of  O'Con- 
nell at  St.  Omers,  and  some  of  the  best  have  stolen  into 
print.  One  of  the  least  current,  is  that  of  his  having  fisti- 
cuffed a  brother  scholar,  who  protested  strongly  against  such 
an  ungentlemanly  mode  of  arranging  a  quarrel ;  "  attendez 
un  moment,''^  said  O'Connell,  and  going  to  his  room  he 
brought  forth  his  sword  and  pistol,  offering  his  adversary 
either,  as  the  only  pair  of  weapons  in  his  possession.  The 
Frank,  however,  declared  himself  for  peace,  and  the  afTair 
ended.  Whilst  he  was  at  college  the  Jesuits  frequently 
corresponded  with  his  parents,  and  one,  who  seemed  to  have 
taken  a  peculiar  interest  in  his  progress,  represented  him 
from  the  first  as  an  extraordinary  youth,  who  loved  power, 
and  who  would  rise  to  eminence  by  daring  and  honorable 
enterprizes.  Thus  truly,  did  "  the  child  become  the  father 
of  the  man." 

O'Connell  studied  in  France  in  the  days  of  the  tremen- 
dous Revolution,  which  not  only  shook  that  country  in 
every  part — which  overturned  the  throne,  trampled  on  the 
nobles,  rooted  up  the  deep  foundations  of  Catholicism,  laid 
in  the  days  of  Pepin,  and  hardened  in  the  storms  of  a  thou- 
sand years — ^but  set  all  Europe  in  commotion,  inflaming  the 

*  Letter  to  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  p.  1. 


12 

literati,  terrifying  the  great,  and  intoxicating  the  mechanics 
and  the  toilsmen.  Like  a  silver  speck  on  the  heavens,  the 
nucleus  of  a  tornado,  it  met  the  eyes  of  millions  who  gazed 
with  admiration  upon  the  gentle  purity  of  the  God-sent 
avenger ;  but  soon  it  spread  forth  its  lurid  wings  from  hori- 
zon to  horizon,  darkening  all  above,  and  wrapping  all  below 
in  ruin  and  desolation ;  filling  all  space  with  reverberations 
of  the  work  of  havoc.  The  young  student  of  St.  Omers 
looked  forth  with  a  steady  and  statesmanlike  gaze,  on  the 
phenomena  at  work  around  him ;  with  a  heavy  heart  he 
saw  the  grand  theory  of  freedom  swept  away  in  blood-spil- 
ling, and  in  anarchy,  and  even  then  he  must  have  felt  the 
necessity  of  a  far  different  and  far  better  system  of  revolu- 
tion. He  must  have  felt  that  on  ruined  altars,  squares 
crowded  with  scaffolds,  and  streets  inundated  with  blood, 
Freedom  could  never  look  down  without  horror ;  and  that 
any  indications  of  a  movement  which  might  tend  to  such 
scenes  in  Ireland,  have  always  met  his  unqualified  denun- 
ciation, is  not  strange. 

Having  completed  his  education  in  France,  Mr.  O'Con- 
nell  returned  home,  but  was  obliged,  as  an  Irishman,  to  study 
his  profession — that  of  law — in  London.  He  therefore  en- 
tered himself  of  the  Middle  Temple,  where  it  was  only  re- 
markedof  him  that  he  was  a  good  humored  youngman,and  an 
attentive  student.  After  spending  the  usual  time  in  attend- 
ance on  the  courts  of  law,  he  returned  to  Ireland,  and  was 
admitted  a  member  of  the  Irish  Bar,  at  Dublin,  in  Easter 
Term,  1798. 

The  Irish  bar  was  still  in  the  glory  of  its  independence — 
there  was  buoyancy  in  the  national  heart,  and  a  generous 
emulation  ran  through  the  senate,  the  bar,  and  the  press. 
The  voice  of  Curran  was  heard  in  the  four  courts,  drying 
the  tears  his  pathos  had  caused.  The  sonorous  and  terri- 
ble energies  of  Plunkett,  "  the  Wellington  of  the  Senate," 
still  shook  the  accuser,  the  criminal,  the  jury,  and  even  the 
bench,  at  will.  The  silver  tones  and  gorgeous  figures  of 
Bushe  were  there  in  meridian  brilliancy,  "  charming  a  ver- 
dict by  the  silent  witchery  of  his  manner."  The  morose, 
yet  unfathomable  mind  of  Saurin,  rich  alike  in  logic  and  in 
learning,  made  another  giant  figure  in  that  group  of  colos- 
sal  jurists  ;  while,  pressing  hard  after  them  in  the  career  of 
fame,  came  a  younger,  and  scarcely  less  noble  race — 
Holmes,  Thomas  Addis  Emmett,  Louis  Perrin,  and  O'Cou- 


13 

nell.  Such  was  the  school  to  which  the  pupil  of  St.  Omers 
came — already  rich  in  learning,  skilled  in  elocution,  and 
subtle  in  debate.  Here  his  first  Irish  lessons  were  received, 
and  assuredly  he  has  done  no  discredit  to  his  instructors. 

Just  at  the  time  of  his  admission  to  the  bar,  the  projected 
revolution  of  the  United  Irishmen  exploded  ;  thus  teaching 
him  another  painful  lesson  in  the  science  of  reform.  Had 
he  resided  in  Ireland  in  '97,  and  the  previous  years,  it  is 
probable  that  he  would  have  entered,  with  the  ardor  of  youth, 
into  all  the  perils  of  a  physical  contest.  But  when  he  ar- 
rived from  London  the  train  was  laid,  the  match  was  lighted, 
and  all  was  completed  for  a  rising.  He  was  already  a 
skeptic  in  the  efficiency  and  justice  of  military  means  to  effect 
political  changes,  and,  happily  for  Ireland,  he  survived  the 
exile  and  executions  of  the  Emmetts,  Tones,  Fitzgeralds, 
Orrs,  and  Russells,  to  do  with  other  weapons  what  they 
had  dared  to  do  in  spite  of  the  gibbet  and  the  convict  ship. 

In  his  twenty- third  year  he  had  the  singular  advantage, 
(to  a  statesman,)  of  witnessing  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  a 
successful  revolution,  and  an  unsuccessful  national  revolt. 
It  was  in  this  period  of  unparalleled  suffering  when  the  most 
sanguine  scarcely  dared  hope  for  the  welfare  of  the  country 
— when  the  Catholic  cause  was  saddled  with  all  the  blame 
of  this  unfortunate  project — when  the  props  of  national  inde- 
pendence were  one  by  one  silently  withdra^vn  from  its  sup- 
port by  the  suicidal  Castlereagh — when  the  civil  tribunals 
were  closed,  and  public  meetings  dispersed  at  the  bayonet's 
point — that  Dantel  O'Connell  vowed  before  God  to  devote 
his  energies  to  his  country,  and  its  altars,  and  to  Kve  but  for 
the  emancipation  of  both.  What  venal  heart  could  prompt 
such  generous  adventure  ?  What  sinister  design  could 
raise  up  a  volunteer  in  those  disastrous  days  ?  Certainly 
there  was  nothing  to  gain,  and  much — life,  friends,  fortune, 
and  perchance  reputation — to  lose,  by  confronting  the  inso- 
lent foreigner,  who  had  prostrated  Ireland  lower  than  ever, 
and  spurned  her  as  she  lay,  covered  with  the  blood  of  her 
devoted  heroes. 


14 


CHAPTER   T¥0. 

The  Act  of  Union. — O'ConnelVs  Opposition  to  that  MeaS' 
ure. — Robert  Emmett. — Revieiu  of  the  Catholic  Question 
in  Ireland. — Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Milner. — Commencement 
of  the  Veto  Co7itroversy. — Suppression  of  the  Catholic 
Committee. 

The  year  of  1799  is  noted  in  Irish  history  for  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  projected  legislative  union  between  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  emanating  from  the  ministers  of  the 
former  power,  and  strenuously  opposed  by  the  patriotic 
members  of  the  Irish  Parliament,  in  both  houses.  It  is 
often  asserted  that  the  Irish  Union  was  a  compact  made 
by  mutual  consent — but  the  fact  of  the  standing  army  being 
130,000  strong  in  1800,  and  but  74,000  in  1798,  during  the 
strength  of  insurrection,  conclusively  show^s  that  the  means 
of  repressing  popular  opposition  to  the  act,  were  considered 
needful  to  insure  its  passage  under  any  pretence. 

Many  meetings,  notwithstanding,  were  convened,  and  the 
mercantile  classes  of  Dublin,  especially,  were  strenuously 
opposed  to  the  baneful  measure  of  legislative  extinction. 
Lord  Castlereagh  and  his  followers  had  more  than  once 
hinted  in  the  debates,  that  the  Catholics  of  Ireland  were  in 
favor  of  the  Union,  and  to  make  truth  out  of  their  asser- 
tions, they  held  out  emancipation  as  a  result  of  imperial 
liberality.  To  disprove  the  imputation  thus  brought  against 
them,  the  Catholics  of  Dublin  called  a  meeting  at  the  Royal 
Exchange,  on  the  13th  of  January,  1800,  where  a  large 
number  attended,  and  several  spirited  resolutions  were  unan- 
imously passed.  It  was  at  an  early  stage  of  this  meeting 
that  Major  Sirr,  the  hireling  of  the  Castle,  and  the  butcher 
of  the  gallant  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald,  followed  by  his 
Janisaries,  entered  the  meeting,  and  demanded  a  copy  of 
the  resolutions  to  be  read  to  him.  When  this  was  done, 
and  while  the  bayonets  were  yet  glistening  in  the  hall,  a 
young  barrister,  robust  in  form,  of  an  interesting  coun- 
tenance, rose  to  support  their  spirit  and  meaning.  The  eye 
of  the  Irish  Marat  was  glistening  upon  him.     It  was  his 


15 

first  public  speech,  when,  as  many  years  later  he  confessed, 
"he  trembled  at  the  sound  of  his  own  voice."  As  he  pro- 
ceeded, he  waxed  warm  and  energetic,  and  every  sentence 
that  fell  from  his  lips,  though  nothing  but  peace  was  spoken, 
was  emphasized  by  the  most  treasonable  bitterness.  There 
was  a  boldness,  more  of  manner  than  language,  in  his  deliv- 
ery, a  feeling,  as  it  were,  of  his  own  strength,  which  he 
could  not  conceal.  He  spoke  not  long,  but  with  much 
effect.  "  I  would  rather,"  said  he,  with  a  noble  vehemence, 
"  see  the  whole  penal  code  re-enacted  than  consent  to  the 
legislative  extinction  of  Ireland."  This  young  advocate  of 
nationality,  and  defender  of  Catholicism,  was  the  future 
Liberator. 

But  in  despite  of  all  that  eloquence  could  do — of  Grat- 
tan's  words  of  fire,  and  Plunkett's  thunder,  and  Curran's 
most  beautiful  protests — in  despite  of  all  that  genius  could 
urge,  and  talent  and  intrepidity  undertake — the  legislature 
of  Ireland  was  basely,  infamously  bartered  away,  and  her 
senators  sat  in  the  council  chambers  of  another  land,  amongst 
strangers,  where  her  voice  could  not  reach  their  ears,  nor 
her  miseries  appeal  to  their  senses. 

There  were  many  of  the  young  men  of  Ireland,  who  felt 
goaded  to  indignation  by  this  act.  When  they  thought  on 
the  glories  of  Dungannon,  they  blushed  ;  and  when  they 
heard  of  Grattan's  triumphs  abroad,  and  looked  upon  the 
empty  senate  house  which  he  had  purged  eighteen  years 
before,  the  tears  of  vexation  streamed  upon  their  cheeks. 
Their  fathers  had  possessed  a  constitution  nearly  akin  to 
freedom — they  had  representatives,  who,  with  all  their 
faults,  were  national — were  Irishmen.  It  is  not  wonderful 
that  the  youth  of  a  people,  proverbially  sanguine,  should 
thus  have  regarded  a  change  from  independence  to  pro- 
vincialism, from  glory  to  slavery,  from  plenty  to  utter 
want.  But  of  the  number  who  most  lamented  this  foul 
consummation,  history  loves  to  record,  with  peculiar  honor, 
the  names  of  two — the  one  Robert  Emmett,  and  the  other 
O'CoNNELL.  No  two  men  of  the  present  century,  more 
truly  recognized  the  great  principle  of  disinterestedness ; 
none  so  closely  approached  the  ideal  of  patriotism ;  neithei 
feared  for  the  frowns  of  placemen,  nor  of  the  employers  of 
placemen  ;  both  had  hope  in  the  native  virtue  of  their  down- 
cast countrymen.  The  only  marvel  is,  that  agreeing  so 
well  in  the  premises,  they  should  have  differed  so  widely  in 


18 

the  means  of  achievement.  Yet  honor  to  the  man  who  no- 
bly died — who  perished  with  his  country,  when  he  found  it 
impossible  to  save  her  !  However  his  judgment  may  have 
erred,  every  fibre  of  his  heart,  and  every  faculty  of  his  vast 
mind,  was  responsive  alone  to  Ireland's  woes,  and  employed 
exclusively  in  attempts  to  ameliorate  them.  Soft  be  the 
turf  upon  his  ashes,  and  reverent  be  the  mention  of  his 
name  on  Irish  lips,  for  assuredly,  when  the  good  and  bad  of 
all  the  world,  and  of  all  time,  shall  throng  to  judgment  in 
the  dread  Jehosaphat,  there  shall  not  arise  from  the  earth 
nor  from  the  sea  a  purer-intentioned  man  than  Robert 
Emmett,  If,  however,  differing  from  him,  Mr.  O'Connell 
preferred  to  live  for  his  country  in  chains,  to  watch  over 
her  first  returning  hour  of  courage,  to  catch  the  faint  spark 
from  her  soul,  and  nurse  it  into  a  flame,  which  should  over- 
spread the  land,  and  melt  doum  the  brazen  pillars  of  ascen- 
dancy, in  its  ardor — who  shall  refuse  to  him  an  honor 
equally  deserved,  and  more  wisely  earned  ?  On  devoting 
himself  to  Ireland,  he  found  two  great  reforms  necessary, 
viz.,  the  emancipation  of  the  Catholics,  who  were  more 
than  seven  eighths  of  the  population;  and  afterwards  a  com- 
bination of  Catholics,  Protestants,  and  Dissenters,  in  order 
to  attain  a  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  Act  of  Legislative  Union. 
To  establish  freedom  of  conscience  in  the  British  empire, 
to  re-create  a  Senate,  and  raise  a  Constitution  from  the 
dead,  were  the  vast  projects  of  his  young  mind  ;  and  equally 
honorable  to  his  courage  and  his  liberality,  is  the  manner 
in  which  he  has  followed  up  those  designs,  against  all  sorts 
of  disheartening  obstructions. 

A  knowledge  of  the  state  of  the  Catholic  question,  the  first 
labor  of  the  Irish  Hercules,  at  the  time  he  became  by  com- 
mon consent  its  head  and  front,  is  indispensable  to  the  due 
appreciation  of  the  magnitude  of  his  undertaking.  Laws  of 
a  prescriptive  nature,  framed  upon  the  sole  plea  of  creed, 
had  been  long  accumulating  on  the  English  statute  books, 
against  the  Catholics  of  the  empire  generally,  while  several 
were  exclusively  against  the  Irish  Catholics.  Of  the  former 
number  were  those  denying  their  admissibility  to  seats  in  the 
legislature,  to  all  offices  under  the  crown,  and  denying  them 
the  right  of  publicly  attending  Catholic  worship,  or  harboring 
a  Catholic  clergyman ;  these  grievances  were  exaggerated 
in  Ireland  by  the  addition  of  others  forbidding  Catholics  to 
educate  their  children  at  Trinity  College,  (the  only  univer- 


17 

sity,)  or  at  all  within  the  reahn ;  and  disabling  them  to  hold 
real  estate,  if  known  to  be  frequenters  of  a  Catholic  church. 
To  these  causes  of  complaint  we  might  add  many  others, 
equally  tyrannical,  narrow  and  unchristian.  When  the  Irish 
Parliament  obtained  its  independence,  in  1782,  its  most  able 
patriots  beset  themselves  to  carrying  out  a  repeal  of  these 
laws,  which,  as  volunteers,  they  had  solemnly  resolved  to 
do,  in  the  Congress  of  Dungannon.  The  emancipators  of 
that  assembly  were  more  able  than  numerous,  and  for  some 
years  after  they  obtained  perfect  self-control,  so  many  and 
such  weighty  questions  of  international  policy  were  broached, 
such  as  Simple  Repeal,  the  Commercial  Regulations,  the 
Pension  List,  and  the  Regency,  that  the  Catholic  cause  was 
not  immediately  advanced.  There  cannot,  however,  be  any 
doubt,  but  that,  if  it  were  not  for  the  union,  emancipation 
would  have  come  to  Ireland  twenty  years  sooner  than  it  did 
at  last.  Meantime  the  subject  was  not  neglected,  nor  did 
its  great  advocates,  Grattan  and  Yelverton,  suffer  it  to  cool 
in  their  custody.  There  is  no  record  of  a  session  in  which 
these  illustrious  men  did  not  introduce  the  subject  for  dis- 
cussion, and,  year  after  year,  new  proselytes  were  gained, 
and  the  minority  at  last  was  fast  approaching  a  tie,  when 
the  act  of  union  sent  its  Irish  advocates  to  plead  before  a 
less  genial  audience.  They  obtained,  however,  in  1793,  a 
bill  empowering  Catholics  to  be  educated  within  the  king- 
dom, and  in  Trinity  College ;  of  taking  apprentices  and  of 
being  admitted  to  the  bar ;  "  the  old  millstone  still  being 
about  their  neck,"  says  Plowden,  "  the  want  of  the  elective 
franchise  and  a  fair  trial  by  jury.'"^  It  was  not  long  before 
this  period  that  the  plan,  afterwards  so  successful,  had 
been  first  adopted  by  the  Catholics,  of  co-operating  out  of 
doors,  by  meetings,  addresses,  and  petitions  with  their  friends 
in  Parliament.  The  Irish  legislature  had  always  guaran- 
teed freedom  of  speech,  and  the  friends  of  emancipation  had 
resolved  to  make  good  use  of  that  inestimable  weapon  against 
wrong.  They  organized  and  agitated ;  they  poured  in  pe- 
titions to  Parliament  and  to  the  sovereign,  and  appointed 
Richard  Burke,  son  of  the  immortal  impeacher  of  Hastings, 
as  their  agent  in  London.  They  induced  the  lethargic 
Catholic  nobles  to  join  them,  who  in  most  cases  were  a 
greater  obstacle  than  an  assistance  to  the  labors  of  the  ener- 

*  British  Empire,  p.  178. 
2% 


18 

getic.  They  obtained,  later  in  this  same  year,  (1793,)  on  the 
recommendation  of  the  king,  another  bill,  the  only  part  of 
which,  however,  really  worth  thanks,  was  the  title ;  for, 
after  setting  forth  that  it  was  to  be  "A  Bill  to  make  it  law- 
ful for  Papists  to  hold  any  civil  or  military  office  under  his 
Majesty,"  it  commenced  a  list  of  exceptions  so  extensive  as 
to  take  in  everything  worth  having,  from  the  lord-lieu- 
tenantcy  of  Ireland,  to  a  sub-shrievalty.  But  then  it  ad- 
mitted them  to  the  elective  franchise  and  the  trial  by  jury. 
Even  this  instalment,  poor  as  it  was,  met  with  violent  oppo- 
sition from  the  Lord  Chancellor,  (Clare,)  and  was  opposed 
even  by  the  Speaker,  (Foster,)  a  man  otherwise  of  good 
reputation  for  liberality.  Its  great  advocates,  however,  with 
the  aid  of  many  worthy  coadjutors,  forced  it  through  Parlia- 
ment after  a  stormy  and  protracted  debate.  These  were  the 
only  benefits  which  the  Irish  Parliament,  in  its  indepen- 
dence, conferred  on  the  Catholics  of  that  country ;  but  even 
these  were  promissory  of  further  and  wider  concessions. 
As  to  what  it  attempted  previous  to  its  independence,  it  is 
hardly  worthy  of  a  moment's  consideration.  Although 
Brooke,  Curry,  and  O'Connor  wrote,  and  Wyse,  and  one 
or  two  other  men  of  property,  agitated,  the  lethargy  of  the 
Catholic  nobles,  and  the  cry  of  "  No  Popery,"  were  still  too 
strong  for  their  efforts  at  amelioration.  True,  in  1762,  they 
were  empowered  to  lease  "  unprofitable  bogs,"  and  in  1778 
some  portions  of  the  "  Act  to  prevent  the  increase  of  Popery  " 
were  repealed.  But  to  return  to  our  narrative : — the  engine 
of  legislation,  whether  dependent  or  defective,  was  at  last 
totally  demolished,  and  the  bold  spirit  of  the  people  found  a 
dying  vent  in  the  spasmodic  outbreak  of  1803.  For  a  time 
they  lay  utterly  stricken  and  hopeless,  not  daring  to  raise 
their  eyes  to  their  new  rulers,  much  less  to  address  them. 
At  last,  the  old  system  of  Wyse,  in  1760,  and  of  John 
Keogh,  in  1793, — the  system  of  a  Catholic  Committee, — 
was  resuscitated,  rather  than  founded,  and  Lords  Fingal, 
Gormanstown,  Trimblestown,  and  French,  Sir  Thomas 
Esmond,  Bart.,  and  a  few  Esquires  undertook  to  hazard  the 
experiment  once  more. 

In  consequence  of  the  concession  of  1793,  Mr.  O'Connell 
did  not  find  himself  the  only  Catholic  at  the  junior  bar,  and 
more  than  one  of  his  brother  jurists  entered  as  warmly  into 
the  contest  as  himself.  They  never  lost  sight  of  their  de- 
grading position  for  a  moment,  but  whether  in  the  crowded 


19 

assembly,  or  the  social  meeting,  were  ever  ready  to  try  their 
fortune  at  proselytizing.  Of  the  most  prominent  (though 
they  all  did  not  enter  the  vineyard  at  the  first  hour)  were 
Messrs.  Hussey,  Clinch,  Scully,  and  Shiel.  It  may  be 
supposed  that  the  clergy,  who  were  the  most  deeply  con- 
cerned in  the  struggle,  were  not  unwilling  to  lend  a  hand 
in  bearing  its  brunts ;  and  we  find,  therefore,  the  names  of 
Dr.  Dromgoole,  Dr.  Troy,  and  Dr.  Milner,  and  later  in  the 
battle,  those  of  Drs.  Doyle  and  McHale,  amongst  the  most 
prominent  actors  in  the  agitation.  These  three  powers — 
the  nobles,  the  barristers,  and  the  clergy,  took  form  in 
1805,  but  were  so  rent  by  divisions,  and  agueish  with  their 
dread  of  plain-speaking,  that  they  could  hardly  be  said  to 
exist  until  1808.  In  May,  of  that  year,  Lord  Fingal  reached 
London,  with  a  lengthy  petition  from  the  Catholics  of  Ire- 
land, on  behalf  of  their  committee,  which  was  presented  on 
the  26th  of  May,  by  Henry  Grattan,  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, and  by  Lord  Grenville,  on  the  following  night,  in  the 
Lords.  These  gentlemen  simultaneously  announced  to  the 
Parliament  the  astounding  piece  of  information,  that  if  the 
prayer  of  the  petition  was  granted,  the  Catholic  hierarchy 
would  thenceforward  and  forever  alloAV  the  sovereigns  of 
Great  Britain  a  veto,  or  negative  final  voice  in  the  choice  of 
all  the  bishops  within  the  realm.  Both  gentlemen  spoke 
\vith  the  words  of  authority,  and  there  can  now  be  little 
doubt  but  that  Lord  Fingal,  the  honest,  easy,  weak-minded 
delegate  of  the  Catholic  Committee,  had  given  Messrs. 
Grattan  and  Grenville  to  understand,  that  an  arrangement 
of  such  a  nature  might  be  effected ;  as  he  also  did  Mr. 
Ponsoby.  It  is  necessary,  however,  to  bear  in  mind,  that 
the  origin  of  these  declarations  is  involved  in  much  ob- 
scurity, which  even  Mr,  Wyse,  in  his  history  of  the  Catho- 
lic Association,  has  not  been  able  to  penetrate.  Subsequent 
events  showed  that  Mr.  O'Connell  and  the  Irish  bishops 
were  free  from  any  hand  in  the  base  proflfer  of  such  an  anti- 
Catholic  concession. 

*  At  this  period  Dr.  John  Milner,  an  English  Catholic  di- 
vine, of  vast  erudition  and  indomitable  spirit,  was  the  agent 
of  the  Irish  bishops  in  London.  His  name  has  already  be- 
come familiar  in  the  charch — his  writings  are  amongst  the 
most  approved  classics  of  Catholicism,  and  his  memory  will 
long  be  reverenced  in  the  British  empire,  for  the  highly 
important  part  he  playe'd  in  the  enfranchisement  of  the 


20 

Church.  In  person,  it  is  said,  he  was  plain  and  almost 
repulsive ;  in  address  blunt  and  unconciliating,  but  the 
rough  rind  of  the  gourd  held  within  the  purest  milk  of 
human  kindness,  and  encased  the  kernel  of  an  immortal 
genius.  He  had  been  a  scholar  from  his  infancy,  a  priest 
from  early  manhood,  and  a  controversialist  of  enviable  fame, 
for  many  yeajs.  He  was  a  man  without  fortune,  save  in 
the  riches  of  his  library,  and  without  ambition  but  in  the 
dissemination  of  the  faith  which  was  so  firmly  seated  in  his 
own  soul.  Had  he  lived  in  the  palmy  days  of  Catholic 
unity,  he  would  have  been  the  Chrysostom  of  the  West. 
Under  the  pressure  of  penal  bonds,  he  has  reached  a  niche, 
side  by  side  with  those  of  Bossuet  and  Doyle.  In  all  re- 
spects he  was  a  powerful  pillar  of  the  church — a  rough-hewn 
one  to  the  eye,  but  having  within  the  adamantine  stamina 
of  a  Loyola,  with  the  culture  of  a  Ganganelli.  His  name  is 
written  upon  the  tombs  of  the  penal  laws,  and,  assuredly, 
its  laurels  shall  not  pass  away. 

Dr.  Milner  was  bom  in  London,  in  1752,  educated  at 
Douay,  and  admitted  to  holy  orders  in  1777.  Returning 
to  England,  he  officiated  for  some  time  in  London,  and  after- 
wards in  Winchester.  The  first  occasion  of  his  literary 
exertions  was  in  the  celebrated  "Blue  Book"  controversy 
against  Mr.  Charles  Butler,  and  the  "  Protesting  Catholic 
Dissenters,"  or  Association  of  pseudo'Caiholics,  of  high  rank, 
in  England.  The  object  of  this  association  was  to  persuade 
Catholics  that  they  ought  to  appoint  their  own  bishops, 
to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  and,  in  short,  to  become 
Protestants  de  facto,  that  they  might  be  free  from  Catholic 
oppressions.  A  party  of  this  despicable  nature  had  been 
gradually  growing  up  in  England  when  Dr.  Milner  re- 
turned to  his  native  country ;  he  saw  at  once  the  magnitude 
of  the  evil,  and  the  urgency  of  redress ;  the  following  year, 
his  pamphlets  came  down  upon  the  brooding  trimmers  as  a 
heron  pounces  on  a  lake  covered  with  wild-fowl,  and  lo ! 
each  one  screamingly  took  wing  and  fled  into  obscurity. 
In  1791  his  paper,  called  "  Facts  relating  to  the  Contests 
among  the  Roman  Catholics,"  completely  annihilated  the 
"  Protesting  Catholic  Dissenters,"  of  whom  we  hear  no 
more. 

In  179S  appeared  his  erudite,  and  much  critized  History 
of  Winchester  ;  in  1803  he  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Cas- 
tobala,  and  appointed  Vicar  Apostohc  of  the  Midland  Dis- 


21 

trict,  in  England ;  in  1801  he  published  "  Case  of  Con- 
science Solved ;  or,  the  Catholic  Claims  proved  to  be  com- 
patible with  the  Coronation  Oath;"  in  1807  he  travelled 
through  Ireland,  and  on  his  return  to  London  was  appointed 
parliamentary  agent  to  the  Irish  Catholic  bishops;  a  duty  of 
which  he  so  honorably  acquitted  himself,  that  he  frequently 
received  their  thanks,  and  those  of  the  Catholic  Association. 
On  his  return  from  Ireland,  he  again  entered  the  lists  against 
Mr.  Charles  Butler  and  the  Catholic  aristocracy,  in  opposi- 
tion to  their  favorite  scheme  of  a  veto.  The  only  remain- 
ing works  of  Dr.  Milner,  to  our  knowledge,  not  previously 
enumerated,  are,  his  "  End  of  Religious  Controversy,"  pub- 
lished in  1818 ;  "  Strictures  on  Southey's  Book  of  the 
Church,"  and  his  "  Parting  Word  to  Dr.  Grier."^  Besides 
these,  there  are  several  published  letters  of  his,  which,  we 
believe,  have  not  heretofore  been  collected,  with  prefaces  to 
some  Catholic  books,  notes,  &c.  &c. 

Dr.  Milner  died  at  Wolverhampton,  on  the  19th  day  of 
April,  1826,  in  the  seventy-fourth  year  of  his  age.  He  has 
been  justly  styled  the  "  Modern  Athanasius,"  and  there  has 
been  found  no  sentence  in  his  multifarious  writings  which 
the  Church  disavows. 

The  morning  after  the  debate  in  Parliament,  in  which 
the  veto  proposition  was  put  forward  by  Mr.  Grattan,  Dr. 
Milner  published  a  card  disclaiming  concurrence  in  the  new 
lure  held  out  to  dilatory  justice ;  that  he  did  not  censure 
Mr.  Grattan,  is  sufficiently  evident  from  the  beautiful  tribute 
to  his  worth  and  eloquence  which  afterwards  appeared  in 
his  admirable  "  Letters  from  Ireland.'''' 

When  the  news  of  the  veto  proposition  reached  Ireland, 
a  shout  of  universal  opposition  was  raised  against  it,  and 
with  such  terrific  energy  was  it  denounced,  that  many  soi- 
disant  friends  of  emancipation  trembled  for  the  result.  The 
laity  were  justly  alarmed,  the  clergy  roused  to  defence. 
A  national  council  of  the  hierarchy  was  immediately  as- 
sembled, and  twenty-three  of  twenty-six  prelates  eagerly 
voted  for  a  resolution  directly  contradicting  the  assumption 
that  they  would  ever  place  so  sacred  a  power  in  the  hands 

*  Under  this  name  (his  brother-in-law's)  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin 
(Magee)  attacked  Dr.  Milner,  concerning  certain  passages  in  the 
"  End  of  Controversy."  The  Archbishop  suffered  as  complete  a  de- 
feat from  this  luminary  of  the  English  church,  as  he  did  from  J.  K. 
L.,  a  twin  star,  of  the  Irish  hierarchy. 


22 

of  the  sovereign.  Lord  Fingal  attempted  a  contrary  de- 
monstration, and  secured  four  signatures  to  an  address  which 
he  prepared  in  support  of  the  veto.  These,  Hke  himself, 
were  lords  of  a  peculiar  stamp,  who  were  much  more  anx- 
ious to  sit  in  the  upper  house,  and  dine  at  the  tahle  of 
kings,  than  to  preserve  the  independence  of  their  spiritual 
guides.  In  the  petition  of  1809,  the  slightest  hint  of  any 
such  concessions  on  the  part  of  the  Catholics  was  distinctly 
avoided,  and  the  resolutions  of  March,  1810,  wherein  the 
Irish  clergy  asserted  their  venerable  and  never-ceded  inde- 
pendence, gave  to  their  opposition  a  still  firmer  aspect. 
This  open  variance  between  the  old  Catholic  nobility  and 
the  hierarchy,  was  daily  widening  to  a  breach,  when  an 
event  took  place  which  crushed  the  old  organization  of  the 
Catholics — drove  some  to  lethargy — silenced  the  controver- 
sies of  others — and  left  Daniel  O'Connell  the  sole  leader 
in  a  troopless  field,  the  pilot  of  a  ship  without  crew  or  com- 
pass ;  I  mean  the  suppression  of  the  Catholic  Committee,  by 
Wellesley  Pole,  then  Secretary  for  Ireland,  and  since  Lord 
Maryborough.  This  was  effected  by  enforcing  the  "  Con- 
vention Act"  of  1793,  originally  framed  by  the  famous  Lord 
Clare,  against  the  united  Irishmen  and  defenders.  On  the 
meeting  of  the  Catholic  Committee,  in  1809,  Lord  Fingal 
and  other  members  were  arrested,  and  Mr.  Kirwan  and 
Dr.  Sheridan  were  tried  before  Chief  Justice  Downes,  for 
violation  of  the  law  regarding  public  assemblages.  The  de- 
fence was  conducted  by  Mr.  O'Connell,  and,  though  the 
packing  of  a  jury  for  the  purpose  of  a  conviction  was  notori- 
ously evident,  still  Kirwan  and  Sheridan  were  acquitted. 
They,  then,  at  the  instance  of  their  victorious  counsellor, 
instituted  a  prosecution  against  the  Chief  Justice,  which,  as 
was  to  be  foreseen,  ended  only  in  a  vexatious  acquittal  of 
that  functionary,  a  result  tantamount  to  a  reversion  of  the 
former  verdict.  This  prosecution,  however,  although  it 
failed  in  securing  obnoxious  individuals,  gave  to  govern- 
ment a  temporary  triumph  in  the  terror  it  had  caused  in  the 
Catholic  body,  and  the  gradual  falling  away  of  the  most 
prominent  members  of  the  Committee. 

At  that  time  Mr.  O'Connell  had  been  twelve  years  in 
Dublin,  and  the  Committee  had  been  in  existence  five.  He 
had  been  the  great  lever  of  the  people.  He  had  worked  in 
the  wake  of  Fingal  and  Dr.  Troy.  He  now  saw  that  his 
probation  had  closed,  and  that  he  must  step  boldly  forward 


and  uphold  the  tottering  fahric  of  emancipation,  which 
otherwise  would  inevitably  fall.  The  hazard  was  great,  but 
the  prize  even  more  so ;  and,  girding  up  all  his  strength,  as 
one  who  embarks  on  a  perilous  journey,  he  bravely  took  the 
post  of  danger,  anxiety,  and  labor,  resolved  to  leave  it  but  in 
death,  or  crowned  with  success.  The  members  of  the  shat- 
tered Committee,  with  O'Connell  at  their  head,  assumed  the 
title  of  *'  The  Catholic  Board,"  and  entered  vigorously  upon 
the  new  contest.  Every  member  of  the  new  board  was  an 
anti-vetoist,  and  if  it  possessed  less  titles  than  its  prototype, 
the  Committee,  it  had  certainly  more  energy,  and  far  greater 
effect  upon  the  destinies  of  the  great  Catholic  question. 


CHAPTER    THREE. 

The  Catholic  Question  continued. —  The  Veto  Controversy 
in  England. — Richard  Lalor  Shiel. — Rome  and  the 
Veto. — Father  Hayes. — His  Career  and  Character. — His 
Death. 

The  Catholics  of  England  had  given  before  this  time 
but  few  and  feeble  responses  to  the  invitations  tendered 
them  by  their  brethren  of  Ireland.  They  were  indeed  a 
body  far  from  powerful ;  weak-minded,  low-spirited,  and 
almost  ashamed  of  the  faith,  they  could  neither  resign  nor 
defend.  The  vast  majority  of  their  clergy,  and  all  the 
Catholic  nobles  of  England,  with  two  or  three  honorable 
exceptions,  were  in  favor  of  the  veto ;  consequently  the 
truckling  policy  of  Lord  Fingal  and  his  friends  had  found  fa- 
vor in  their  sight.  Great  and  influential  as  Dr.  Milner  was 
amongst  his  Catholic  fellow-countrymen,  he  could  not  in- 
fuse his  own  Catholic  spirit  into  their  grovelling  souls,  nor 
make  his  potent  voice  heard  above  the  din  of  ten  thousand 
minor  advisers.  In  the  different  views  which  they  took  of  this 
important  question,  we  see  the  strongest  illustration  of  that 
temper,  which  has  rendered  all  attempts  at  an  amalgama- 
tion of  the  Catholics  of  Ireland  and  England  most  unprofit- 
able and  painful  to  their  common  friends.  The  Irish,  more 
severely  and  systematically  persecuted ;  deprived  of  prop- 


24 

erty  ;  shut  out  from  education ;  their  priests  hunted,  ban- 
ished, beheaded ;  their  hereditary  leaders  in  exile,  or  impov- 
erished, with  all  lost  but  an  independent  spirit,  which  no 
law,  no  administration,  could  extirpate, — ^boldly  and  at  once 
denounced  the  vile  project,  and  declared  their  undying 
hostility  to  the  principle  on  which  it  was  founded.  In  so 
doing  the  laity  vied  with  the  clergy  in  the  emphasis  of  their 
reprobation.  In  England,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Catholics, 
few  in  number,  but  rich  in  lands  and  heraldic  honors,  had 
received  treatment  of  a  less  demoniac  nature.  True,  the 
day  had  not  long  passed,  when  Lord  George  Gordon,  the 
commander-in-chief  of  a  miscreant  rabble,  had  pillaged 
their  churches  and  residences  in  London,  under  the  very 
eyes  of  the  Parliament  and  the  Court.  True,  those  yet 
lived,  who  remembered  the  illustrious  Challoner,  hunted 
from  door  to  door,  and  forced  to  offer  the  divine  sacrifice  of 
the  altar  in  a  filthy  ale-house,  under  pretence  of  social 
meetings  with  his  flock.  But  these  grievances  were  con- 
fined to  the  canaille  of  English  Catholicism,  and  to  those 
Irish  missionary  priests,  who  chose  to  lead  such  a  life  of 
perpetual  persecution,  to  save  the  souls  of  porters,  laborers, 
and  other  unimportant  persons.  The  Surreys,  Howards, 
and  Talbots,  who  yet  held  old  England's  faith,  as  well  as 
old  England's  legitimate  nobility,  felt  not  these  stinging  op- 
pressions. The  legation  of  every  Catholic  court  had  its 
chaplains  in  London,  and  the  iron  walls  of  Alnwick  and 
Alton  could  conceal  a  priest  with  impunity,  while  the  mud 
walls  of  the  Irish  peasant's  shed  were  no  barrier  against  the 
bloodhounds  of  religious  fury.  The  influential  Catholics  of 
England  were,  as  we  have  said,  vetoists  ;  the  majority  of  the 
English  hierarchy  agreed  with  them ;  and  if  any  one  amongst 
the  mass  was  opposed  to  its  being  so  enacted,  his  voice 
was  drowned  in  the  opposing  torrent,  or  his  lips  self-sealed 
in  deference  to  superiors,  temporal  and  ecclesiastical.  With 
the  exception  of  the  Irish  Catholic  peers,  the  Channel  may 
be  said  to  have  divided  the  Catholic  body  into  vetoists  and 
anti- vetoists.  The  controversy  began  to  look  serious — the 
brotherhood,  so  necessary  in  the  attainment  of  Emancipation, 
daily  disappeared  in  mutual  recriminations,  while  the  en- 
emies of  religious  equality  laughed  to  scorn  the  foolishness 
of  its  friends,  and  chuckled  over  their  suicidal  differences. 

Such  was  the  state  of  feeling  among  the  emancipators  of 
the  empire,  when  the  Catholic  Board  came  into  existence ; 


25 

in  1810,  and  for  the  three  years  ensuing,  little  or  nothing 
Vv'as  done,  on  either  side,  but  the  issuing  of  pamphlets  and 
the  making  orations  for  and  against  the  veto.  In  the 
mean  while,  the  enemies  of  Catholic  enfranchisement  were 
not  idle.  Several  pretended  a  sudden  conversion  to  the 
cause,  but  to  range  themselves  with  the  anti-Catholic  or 
veto  faction,  inciting  its  members  to  further  breaches,  and 
rejoicing  over  its  prospective  ruin. 

At  this  time  appeared  in  the  Catholic  councils  a  young 
man,  two  years  beyond  minority — Richard  Lalor  Shiel,  a 
native  of  Waterford.  Like  Mr.  O'Connell,  his  father's  for- 
tunes had  reached  at  his  birth  almost  to  the  zero  of  pros- 
tration ;  like  him,  also,  he  received  his  education  in  most 
part  from  the  glorious  Jesuits.  He  had  studied  at  Stoney- 
henge,  where,  encircled  by  the  young  Catholic  nobles  of  the 
empire,  he  rose  up  to  a  prematurity  of  fame,  such  as  few 
men  of  original  genius  have  attained  in  their  boyhood.  At 
nineteen,  he  was  as  famous  in  his  academy,  as  Hortensius 
in  Rome  at  the  same  age,  according  to  the  panegyric  of 
Cicero.  It  was  here,  beyond  doubt,  that  his  mind  was  first 
crippled  into  that  aristocratic  mould,  which  only  the  tropic 
rays  of  the  most  intense  popular  demonstrations  have  been 
able  to  dissolve  from  around  it.  Here,  in  the  gorgeous 
dreams  of  his  ambitious  youth,  was  the  germ  of  a  spurious 
feeling  laid,  which  nothing  but  chance  and  insult  had  pre- 
vented from  flowering  into  indolent  luxuriance  beneath  the 
genia]  star  of  high-born  society.  Here,  rambling  through 
the  druidical  pillars,  burthened  down  with  the  long  accumu- 
lating load  of  centuries,  with  the  first-born  of  England's 
most  exalted  families  as  his  companions,  his  imagination 
was  carried  captive  by  the  obstinate  aristocratic  genius  of  a 
land,  which  has  stolen  away  more  than  one  illustrious  dis- 
ciple from  democracy.  But  between  him  and  nobility  there 
was  a  fearful  obstacle,  or  rather  two  of  almost  paramount 
difficulty.  He  was  an  Irishman  and  a  Catholic.  The  son. 
of  a  country  without  name,  flag,  or  senate — the  child  of  a 
church,  without  patronage  in  this  world,  yet  chained  and 
pressed  down  with  the  most  perverse  assiduity.  A  Chris- 
tian separated  from,  and  trodden  on  by  all  others.  A  sub- 
ject, yet  regarded  as  a  slave  and  a  pestilence  in  the  state. 
Even  in  his  boyhood  he  was  too  proud  to  change  his  creed 
or  deny  his  country,  and  too  bold  not  to  hope  that  these 
burdens,  now  hanging  like  millstones  around  his  neck, 
3 


26 

might  yet  become  stepping-stones,  bearing  his  footsteps  to 
eminence  and  renown.  That  he  might  be  ennobled  by 
achieving  such  two-fold  celebrity,  he  gave  up  a  mind  rich 
in  stores  of  imagery,  acutely  and  intuitively  logical,  dwel- 
ling with  nearly  equal  delight  on  the  honeysuckle  and  the 
night-shade,  displaying  by  turns  his  hoards  of  sweets,  and 
the  infallible  poison  of  a  deathly  sarcasm.  His  industry 
was  a  strange  mixture  of  the  wasp  and  bee  ;  his  mental 
complexion  incongruously  formed  of  the  most  seductive 
beauty,  and  the  most  terrible  ferocity.  All  antiquity  was 
rifled  of  its  bitterness  and  its  splendor.  Praetors,  archons, 
usurpers,  tyrants,  were  modeled  out  in  the  world  around, 
and  having  given  them  Roman  power  and  Roman  tyranny, 
he  borrowed  the  weapons  of  the  dead  satirists  and  tribunes, 
wherewith  to  demolish  the  inheritors  of  the  vices  and  the 
ambitions  they  had  scourged  of  old.  A  most  excellent 
linguist,  and  by  instinct  eloquent,  he  found  himself  insen- 
sibly on  the  track  of  every  mighty  mind  that  has  swayed 
the  democracies  of  ancient  time,  or  left  its  tokens  of  exist- 
ence among  the  tangled  by-ways  of  ancient  history.  With 
a  keen  and  headlong  haste  he  rushed  forward  in  the  pur- 
suit, and  before  other  men  begin  to  study  popular  eloquence, 
Shiel  came  forth  upon  the  world,  to  rule  the  rudest  of  Ire- 
land's' peasantry,  in  a  Roman  toga,  with  a  wand  of  Greece. 
From  Stoneyhenge  Shiel  went  to  Trinity  college,  and 
there  graduated,  but  with  no  peculiar  honors.  He  then 
commenced  the  study  of  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  IS  14.  It  was,  however,  in  the  two  preceding  years  that 
he  laid  the  foundation  of  his  literary  and  political  fame. 
While  yet  a  student  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  where  he  was  entered 
in  1811,  he  composed  in  rapid  succession,  the  brilliant  trag- 
edies of  "Adelaide,  or  the  Emigrants,"  "  Bellarmina,"  "  The 
Apostate,"  and  "  Evadne."  Connected  with  this  pillar  of 
his  reputation  is  an  anecdote,  which,  for  his  own  sake  we 
wish  it  were  in  our  power  more  adequately  to  explain.  The 
late  celebrated  writer,  and  scarcely  less  eminent  patriot — 
John  Banim,  submitted  his  glorious  tragedy  of  "  Damon  and 
Pythias  "  to  the  supervision  of  Mr.  Shiel ;  and  to  the  great 
surprise  of  the  author,  on  its  parentage  being  publicly  and 
repeatedly  attributed  to  that  gentleman,  he  rather  admitted 
than  denied  the  rumor.  From  a  brother  Irishman,  this  was 
certainly  very  reprehensible  treatment.  It  is  a  fact  general- 
ly received,  and  one  which  does  as  much  credit  to  Mr, 


27 

Shiel,  as  the  foregoing  (if  true)  is  discreditable,  that  the 
accomplished  and  reproachless  actress,  Miss  O'Neil,  took 
many  of  her  lessons  in  attitude  from  the  author  of  the 
"  Apostate."  Mr.  Shiel's  fame  as  a  dramatic  writer  is 
based  upon  his  own  imperishable  genius,  and  it  is  no  little 
addition  to  our  large  stock  of  national  vanity,  that  of  the  few 
really  good  tragedies  recently  introduced  upon  the  English 
stage,  three  fifths  at  least  are  the  productions  of  Irishmen."^ 
On  the  10th  of  December,  1813,  he  entered  the  Catholic 
Association,  with  his  already  high  reputation  upon  a  brow 
of  extremely  juvenile  aspect.  His  debut  on  that  cele- 
brated occasion,  in  his  speech  against  the  resolution  pro- 
posed by  Dr.  Dromgoole,  asserting  the  independence  of  the 
Irish  Catholic  church,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  epochs 
in  the  history  of  the  Catholic  question.  The  Irish  vetoists 
hailed  him  as  an  apostle  of  their  cause,  but  the  clergy  and 
the  people,  while  they  admired  and  applauded  the  singular 
power  which  had  enabled  him,  at  the  very  outset  of  his 
career,  to  cope  single-handed  against  such  gigantic  minds 
as  O'Connell  and  Dr.  Dromgoole,  were  nevertheless  not  a 
little  grieved  and  chagrined  at  its  misapplication.  When 
he  had  closed  a  maiden  speech,  unparalleled,  we  will  venture 
to  say,  in  either  ancient  or  modern  times,  "  the  Atlas  of  the 
Association,"  rose  to  reply ;  and  for  many  a  day,  O'Connell 
and  Shiel,  on  opposite  sides  of  the  question,  were  tugging 
like  giants  in  the  contest,  pressing  logic,  wit,  rhetoric  and 
facts  into  their  several  arguments,  with  a  reckless  prodi- 
gality, which  would  have  left  bankrupt  any  other  minds  in 
the  empire.  It  was,  like  the  combats  of  Homer's  immortals, 
unseen  in  the  eminence  of  inspiration,  yet  the  thunders  of 
their  strife  surged  louder  and  louder  over  the  land,  rivetting 
the  public  mind  on  the  magnificent  spectacle,  and  filling  the 
air  with  their  alternate  notes  of  victory.  In  years  and  girth 
of  mind,  in  the  firm  dogmatism  of  a  rigid  resolution,  Mr. 
O'Connell  stood  lil^e  a  rock  in  the  deep  sea,  whilst  his 

*  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remind  the  reader  that  in  this  cata- 
logue the  Grjsippics  of  Gerald  Griffin,  the  Damon  and  Pythias  of 
Banim,  the  Alasco  of  Sir  M.  A.  Shee,  the  Virginius  and  Tell  of 
Sheridan  Knowles,  and  all  the  plays  of  Shiel,  find  place.  We  might 
extend  the  list  to  comedy,  and  be  equally  gratified  in  enumerating  the 
productions  of  Power,  Knowles,  Lover,  and  Mrs.  Gore.  Assuredly, 
the  land  of  Congreve  and  Murphy  did  not  cast  away,  at  their  birth, 
the  die  of  excellence  in  which  she  had  moulded  them. 


9Q 

antagonist  waged  a  Parthian  warfare,  steel-clad  from  head  to 
foot  in  the  shining  robes  of  an  exhaustless  invective,  with 
but  one  vulnerable  spot,  and  that  in  the  unsoundness  of  the 
ground  on  which  he  planted  his  standard,  not  in  the  heart 
or  the  head  of  the  champion.  The  latter  had  his  parti- 
zans,  but  the  former  had  the  whole  nation  at  his  back ;  there- 
fore he  triumphed,  but  the  first  hour  of  victory  was  that, 
likewise,  of  the  downfall  of  the  Catholic  Board.  Shiel  and 
his  friends  deserted  it,  and  the  more  violent  anti-vetoists, 
having  now  no  one  to  contend  with,  gradually  sunk  into 
their  former  indolence,  leaving  O'Connell  and  one  or  two 
others  alone.  In  1814  the  Catholic  Board  disappeared  from 
the  public  eye,  and  nine  long  years  of  unmitigated  anguish 
to  the  Irish  nation,  was  the  penalty  of  the  veto  controversy. 
During  this  interregnum  many  events  of  importance  to  Ire- 
land, and  of  course  connected  with  the  life  of  O'Connell, 
took  place,  which  we  shall  briefly  glance  over. 

The  Catholic  Board  had  hardly  sunk  into  the  repose  of 
annihilation,  when  a  rescript,  addressed  to  the  Catholics  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  signed  by  Monsignor,  afterwards 
Cardinal,  Quarrantotti,  conceding  to  the  sovereigns  of  Eng- 
land a  veto  over  the  appointments  of  Irish  Catholic  bish- 
ops, reached  the  laity  and  clergy  in  their  lethargic  sleep. 
A  meeting  was  immediately  called  in  Dublin,  a  remon- 
strance drawn  up  on  behalf  of  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  and 
Richard  Hayes,  a  Franciscan  friar,  was  appointed  ambassa- 
dor, on  their  behalf,  to  Rome. 

This  gentleman  Avas  born  in  the  historic  and  ancient  town 
of  Wexford,  in  the  year  1787.  His  family  were  and  are 
respectable,  not  only  for  their  comfortable  circumstances,  but 
the  integrity  of  their  character,  and  the  charity  of  their 
hands.  From  boyhood,  the  future  ambassador  gave  indi- 
cations of  extraordinary  ability,  quickness,  and  sagacity, 
qualities  which  no  Irish  Catholic  parent  ever  considered  as 
thrown  away  in  holy  orders.  During  the  terrible  scenes  of 
1798,  when  the  streets  of  his  native  town  were  drenched  in 
blood,  and  its  hearths  left  desolate,  or  became  the  biers  of 
their  unburied  possessors,  his  young  mind  did  not  sleep. 
Another  tinge  of  care  came  upon  his  thoughtful  face,  for  the 
boy  was  already  a  patriot.  In  1802  he  went  to  Rome,  and 
after  studying  for  the  priesthood,  in  the  college  of  St.  Isi- 
dore, was  duly  ordained,  and  afterwards  admitted  to  the 
order  of  St.  Francis.     After  an  absence  of  nine  years  he 


29 

returned  to  his  country,  rich  in  theological  lore,  and  elo- 
quent above  any  other  ecclesiastic  of  his  years.  For  three 
years  he  officiated  in  Wexford,  where  his  name  is  never 
mentioned  but  in  a  tone  of  awe  and  reverential  love.  In 
1814  he  removed  to  Dublin,  to  the  universal  regret  of  those 
he  left  behind,  who  addressed  him  as  a  bereaved  family 
might  be  supposed  to  apostrophize  a  dying  and  darling  pa- 
rent. "  Do  not  leave  us,"  they  said,  "  dear  father.  You 
are  one  of  us ;  remain  in  your  native  town,  and  we  will 
endeavor  to  live  worthy  of  so  good  a  pastor."  The  dictates 
of  duly,  however,  were  stronger  in  the  young  ecclesiastic's 
heart,  than  the  yearnings  of  nature,  and  he  departed,  amid 
sighs  and  benedictions,  never  to  return.  No  sooner  had  he 
appeared  in  the  metropolis,  than  all  ages  thronged  to  hear 
him.  Amongst  others,  came  the  great  agitator,  himself. 
He  saw  in  the  young  divine,  then  but  in  his  twenty- 
seventh  year,  a  mind  of  no  common  order,  a  resolution  and 
a  dignity  of  bearing,  a  cautiousness  and  a  fervor,  which 
struck  many  a  responsive  chord  in  his  own  feelings.  From 
that  moment  O'Connell  resolved  to  enlist  him  in  the  cause 
of  emancipation,  and  he  found  the  gifted  Franciscan  nothing 
loth. 

On  the  arrival  of  Quarrantotti's  rescript,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Hayes  was  accordingly  despatched  to  the  eternal  city,  where 
he  arrived  towards  the  end  of  October,  1815,  with  the  writ- 
ten remonstrance  of  the  Irish  Catholics,  and  with  discretion- 
ary powers  to  defeat  the  machinations  of  the  vetoists  and 
the  intrigues  of  the  British  ministry. 

His  after  history,  alas !  is  briefly  told ;  and  therefore,  we 
will  tell  it  here. 

On  his  arrival  in  Rome,  he  was  presented  by  the  supe- 
rior of  his  order,  to  the  Sovereign  Pontiff",  and  to  several  of 
the  sacred  college.  Amongst  those  cardinals,  whom  he 
found  most  favorable  to  the  object  of  his  mission,  was  the 
celebrated  Gonsalvi,  father  of  the  Papal  Constitution,  of 
1816,  which  abolished  the  last  fragments  of  feudal  preroga- 
tive in  the  Roman  States.  But  the  vetoists  had  long  filled 
the  ear  of  Pope  Pius  with  representations  of  the  refractory 
character  of  the  Irish  Catholics ;  and  the  independent  car- 
riage of  Father  Hayes,  who  felt  himself  the  exemplar  of  his 
country  and  her  unchanged  creed,  was  artfully  twisted  into 
a  want  of  the  due  respect,  ever  to  be  shown  to  the  successor 

of  St.  Peter.     The  ambassador  of  the  Irish  Church  was  ac- 
3# 


30 

cordingly  arrested,  and  afterwards  ordered  to  depart  the 
city,  which  with  all  humility  he  obeyed.  He  returned, 
with  one  satisfaction  ;  Quarrantotti  had  been  frequently 
reprimanded  by  his  Holiness  and  the  Cardinal  Secretary  of 
the  Propaganda  (Cardinal  Litta)  for  his  rescript.  Of  him. 
Father  Hayes  wrote  in  one  of  his  letters  to  the  Irish  Catho- 
lics— "  He  is  an  aged  and  weak  man,  and  is  in  compassion 
allowed  still  to  countersign  the  rescripts  of  the  Propaganda." 

When  the  Irish  Catholics  heard  of  the  treatment  of  their 
deputy,  and  saw  him  return  in  ill-deserved  disgrace,  they 
drew  up  a  strong,  yet  respectful  remonstrance  to  Rome, 
which  lather  augmented  the  power  of  the  vetoists  in  that 
city,  and  drew  from  the  Pontiff  a  fatherly  rebuke.  But  the 
firmness  of  the  Irish  hierarchy  triumphed,  and  they  were 
once  more  preserved  from  the  shackles  of  ministerial  pat- 
ronage. 

Mr.  Hayes  did  not  again  come  before  the  public  until 
1821,  when,  being  in  London,  on  the  morning  following  Mr. 
Plunkett's  proposal  of  "  A  Bill  of  Pains  and  Penalties,"  he 
opposed  that  sinister  mode  of  emancipating  the  Catholics, 
in  a  document  of  great  power,  which  sealed  its  fate  forever. 
It  was  at  this  period,  that  his  "  Vetoistical  Catechism"  ap- 
peared, in  which  all  the  authorities  of  all  ages  were  searched 
throughout,  and  human  reasoning  lavished  in  building  up 
opposition  to  the  odious  and  much  dreaded  measure.  In 
1822  he  commenced  the  publication  of  his  admirable  ser- 
mons, so  universally  read  and  admired  in  the  church.  In 
1825  he  was  one  of  the  ten  originators  of  the  CathoUc  Asso- 
ciation, but  in  the  following  year  consumption,  which,  "  like 
a  worm  in  the  bud,"  had  been  undermining  slowly  but  in- 
cessantly his  constitution,  at  last  overpowered  him.  On  the 
24th  of  January,  1824,  he  died  at  Paris,  whither  he  had 
gone  for  the  benefit  of  his  health,  and  his  mortal  remains 
were  honorably  laid  in  Vere  la  Chaise. 

Thus  in  the  thirty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  and  the  twelfth 
of  his  celebrity,  the  most  eloquent  of  modern  Franciscans 
departed  from  this  world.  He  was  a  man  of  meek  and 
humble  character,  without  pretension  and  without  pride,  a 
ripe  scholar,  a  powerful  reasoner,  able,  untiring  and  poor. 
His  sermons  are  amongst  the  best  of  the  Irish  pulpit,  and 
will  not  blush  by  comparison  with  the  most  admired  of  the 
French.  His  services  to  Ireland  were  many  and  impor- 
tant;   a  young  man  forced  into  an  arduous  and  delicate 


2i 

embassy,  he  conducted  himself  without  reproach,  and  failed 
without  dishonor.  To  Rome  he  was  deeply  and  ardently 
attached,  and  it  is  ennobling  to  see  how  truly  catholic  was 
the  spirit  in  which  he  protested  against  feeling  any  want  of 
respect  to  the  chair  of  Peter.  On  the  reply  of  the  Pontiff 
to  the  remonstrance  of  the  Catholic  body  being  read  at  a 
meeting  in  Dublin,  Mr.  Hayes  rose,  and  spoke  thus,  in  re- 
lation to  the  censure  it  contained,  of  his  course. 

"  By  faith  a  Catholic;  by  ordination  a  priest;  by  obedi- 
ence, a  child  of  the  Holy  See ;  I  bow  with  unhesitating 
submission,  respect  and  veneration,  to  the  centre  of  Cathol- 
icism and  source  of  ecclesiastical  subordination,  the  vice- 
gerent of  Jesus  Christ.  I  solemnly  declare,  that  I  should 
choose  death,  rather  than  allow  any  private  or  personal 
feeling  or  consideration  to  betray  me  into  the  slightest  con- 
test with  or  disrespect  towards  the  authority  and  dignity  of 
the  head  of  the  Catholic  Church,  Pope  Pius  the  seventh. 
My  tongue  shall  never  utter  a  syllable  of  complaint,  nor  my 
pen  trace  a  line  of  vindication;  for  lest  scandal  should 
arise,  in  the  words  of  the  nrophet,  I  exclaim,  "  first  take  me 
up  and  cast  me  into  the  sea." 

On  another  occasion  some  priests  in  America,  chafing 
against  authority,  invited  him  amongst  them,  to  become 
their  patriarch  and  head.  But  he  spurned  the  infamous 
proposal,  laid  it  at  the  feet  of  his  spiritual  superior,  and  elo- 
quently reprimanded  those  from  whom  it  came. 

So  deeply  impressed  did  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  become 
with  the  lofty  character  of  Father  Hayes,  that  he  was  re- 
peatedly urged  to  accept  ecclesiastical  preferment ;  but,  no ; 
he  was  am.ply  rewarded  for  his  anguish  of  mind,  in  being 
restored  to  Rome's  esteem,  and  he  died  a  friar.  Beautiful 
unity  !  Happy  subordination  !  Truly  must  their  faith  be 
evangelical,  and  their  religion  unalloyed  by  the  world,  who 
can  thus  suffer,  and  thus  remain  faithful ! 


32 


CHAPTER  FOUR. 

Mr.  O'ConnelVs  Personal  Career.— Duel  loith  D'J^sterre. — 
Challenge  from  Sir  Robert  Peel. — Kerry  Election. — 
Endeavor  to  establish  a  National  Party  irrespective  of 
Creed.^-George  the  Fourth  visits  Ireland. — Formation  of 
the  Catholic  Association. 

Mr.  O'Connell  stood  higher  than  ever  in  the  estimation 
of  the  Irish  people,  not  only  from  his  hostility  to  the  veto, 
but  because  he  was  made  the  mark  for  the  bullets  of  an 
assassin,  hired  by  the  Dublin  Corporation,  and  for  the  chal- 
lenge of  a  detested  Irish  Secretary,  Mr.  (now  Sir)  Robert 
Peel. 

As  duelling  is  a  practice  alike  to  be  reprobated  and 
detested,  it  is  well  to  understand  the  particulars  of  these 
quarrels,  the  former  of  w^hich  ended  in  the  death  of  the 
challenger,  but  the  latter  was  fortunately  prevented ;  from 
both,  we  will  find,  the  personal  character  of  Mr.  O'Connell 
came  forth  unstained  by  cowardice,"^  as  it  was  free  from 
premeditated  crime. 

The  corporation  of  the  city  of  Dublin,  by  their  notorious 
bigotry  and  partizanism,  had  drawn  down  upon  themselves, 
more  than  once,  the  satire  of  Mr.  O'Connell.  At  a  Catho- 
lic meeting  in  Dublin,  on  the  21st  or  22d  of  January,  1815, 
he  had  called  them  "  a  beggarly  corporation."  To  resent 
the  indignity,  and  rid  the  Protestant  ascendancy  party,  at 
the  same  time,  of  the  only  man  in  the  kingdom  before  w^hom 
they  trembled,  was  the  pious  thought  which  immediately 
suggested  itself  to  their  outraged  worships.  On  the  26th 
he  received  a  demand  lor  explanation,  signed,  "  N.  I. 
D'Esterre,"  who  stated  himself  to  be  one  of  the  corporation 

*  I  am  aware  that  Mr.  WilliS;  in  his  "  Pencillings,"  has  asserted, 
on  the  authority  of  Moore,  that  Mr.  O'Connell  was,  by  nature,  a  cow- 
ard. It  has  been  long  settled,  hovA-ever,  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic, 
that  all  is  not  gospel  which  Mr.  Willis  has  preached  in  his  time,  nor 
is  it  to  be  questioned  that  a  gentleman  who  could  report  private  con- 
versations, mightj  in  the  matter  of  pencilling,  draw  from  a  fanciful 
design. 


33 

thus  stigmatized,  and  professing  to  consider  it  as  personally 
applicable  to  himself.  This  gentleman  had  been  an  officer 
in  the  navy,  but  had  retired,  and  become  a  merchant,  in 
Dublin.  He  was  an  unerring  shot,  a  noted  duellist,  and  a 
violent  partizan.  Two  or  three  notes  parsed  between  the 
parties,  and  then  for  a  day  or  two  nothing  further  occurred. 
Mr.  O'Connell  gave  his  word  of  honor  to  Mr.  Justice  Day, 
that  he  would  not  be  the  aggressor,  and  was  therefore  al- 
lowed to  go  at  large.  In  the  meanwhile  D'Esterre  dogged 
him  in  the  streets,  and  was  in  the  act,  on  one  occasion,  of 
going  into  the  Four  Courts,  to  offer  him  personal  violence, 
when  he  was  met  and  stopped  by  Mr.  Richard  O'Gorman, 
a  prominent  emancipator.  The  first  note  from  D'Esterre 
had  been  written  on  a  Thursday,  and  it  was  not  until  the 
Wednesday  following  that  the  meeting  took  place,  showing 
the  most  fixed  determination  on  the  aggressor's  part.  On 
the  1st  of  February,  at  forty  minutes  past  four  in  the  after- 
noon, the  combatants  stood  upon  the  ground,  at  Bishop's- 
Court  Desmene,  Kildare  Co.,  at  the  distance  of  ten  paces, 
each  with  a  pair  of  loaded  pistols,  one  or  both  to  be  fired. 
D'Esterre  was  accompanied  by  Sir  Edward  Stanley,  Bar- 
rack IMaster  of  Dublin,  and  Surgeon  Peel,  while  Surgeon 
Macklin,  and  Major  McNamara,  of  Clare,  (his  second,)  were 
with  Mr.  O'Connell.  The  word  was  given,  the  seconds 
fell  back  a  few  paces,  and  D'Esterre  was  mortally  wounded. 
Two  days  later  the  unfortunate  gentleman  breathed  his  last, 
a  sacrifice  to  the  preservation  of  an  unworthy  faction.^ 

In  the  August  of  the  same  year,  in  consequence  of  some 
expressions  used  by  Mr.  O'Connell  at  a  public  meeting,  a 
hostile  correspondence  took  place  between  Mr.  Peel  and  that 
gentleman,  which,  however,  ended  as  it  had  begun.  Mr. 
O'Connell  was  arrested  and  bound  to  keep  the  peace  within 
the  kingdom ;  they  then  agreed  to  go  to  the  continent,  but 
Mr.  O'Connell  was  again  placed  under  arrest  on  reaching 
London.     Much  controversy  occurred  relative  to  this  afiair, 

*  Mr.  O'Connell  immediately  proffered  a  handsome  annuity  to  the 
widow  of  his  fallen  antagonist,  which  she  however  declined  receiv- 
ing. This  conduct  contrasts  most  favorably  with  a  fact,  well  known 
in  the  best  informed  DubUn  circles,  that  the  Corporation  had  bound 
themselves  to  pay  the  family  of  Mr.  D'Esterre,  a  certain  sum,  if  he 
should  fall  in  the  conflict— an  obligation  which  they  never  fulfilled ; 
thus  truly  proving  themselves  deserving  the  epithet,  D'Esterre  had 
died  to  wipe  away. 


34 

but  the  only  plausible  or  fair  conjecture  is  that  some 
friendly  Argus  kept  the  police  on  the  qui  vive,  to  prevent 
the  shedding  of  valuable  blood.  Enough  has  been  written 
to  prove  Mr.  O'ConnelPs  personal  courage,  and  his  love  for 
peace ;  his  vow  against  duelling  needed  the  former  quality 
as  much  as  the  latter,  in  a  state  of  society,  and  in  scenes  of 
such  danger,  as  England  and  Ireland  presented  for  the  deci- 
ded politician  thirty  years  ago. 

In  digressing  upon  the  personal  career  of  Mr.  O'Connell, 
we  cannot  omit  alluding  to  his  standing,  at  the  bar.  On 
almost  every  case  of  consequence  he  was  engaged  on  either 
side.  He  regularly  went  the  circuit,  and  was  always  re- 
tained against  the  crown,  in  cases  smacking  of  political 
offences.  In  some  of  these  pleas,  he  was  truly  masterly 
and  overwhelming;  in  the  defence  of  the  "  Whiteboys"  of 
the  south,  for  agrarian  offences ;  in  the  defence  of  Mr. 
McGee,  of  the  Dublin  Evening  Post,  for  libel  on  the  Lord 
Lieutenant,  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  and  in  various  other 
cases  belonging  to  the  same  class,  he  was  invariably  the 
victor.  He  knew  more  of  the  Irish  character  than  any 
other  man,  except,  perhaps,  the  illustrious  Curran ;  his 
style  of  examining  a  witness,  like  his  style  of  pleading,  was 
all  his  own — original  in  every  bearing.  The  happy  mix- 
ture of  humor  and  severity,  the  calm  dexterous  boldness, 
and  hearty  love  of  a  joke,  was  immediately  applied  to  the 
person  before  him,  after  a  moment's  careless  prelude,  in 
which  he  had  grasped  the  length  and  breadth,  the  depth 
and  strength  of  the  mind  upon  which  he  had  to  operate. 
By  the  overpowering  influence  of  his  will,  he  effected  a 
mental  somnambulism,  during  which  the  victim  of  his 
genius  confessed  involuntarily  all  he  wished  to  have  known. 
Himself  tenderly  alive,  as  ever  was  man  before,  to  the 
charms  of  domestic  life,  he  pleaded,  with  surpassing  pathos, 
the  case  of  a  parent  or  an  only  child.  Himself  loving  Ire- 
land, as  few  Irishmen  had  done  before,  he  expanded  into 
the  majesty  of  a  dictator,  when  the  theme  was  to  be  fol- 
lowed into  the  gloomy  recesses  of  the  national  heart.  Him- 
self a  Catholic,  rigidly  sincere,  and  sanguinely  enthusiastic, 
he  felt  all  the  holiness  and  greatness  of  his  task,  when  he 
had  occasion  to  speak  of  the  faith  of  the  apostles.  At  the 
bar,  as  in  Parliament  and  in  the  public  assembly,  no  man 
could  listen  to  the  tones  of  his  voice,  whether  gay  or  sad, 
passionate  or  playful,  without  being  smitten  by  his  sincerity, 


35 

and  carried  captive  by  his  energetic  zeal.  It  has  been  well 
said  that  "  he  was  not  only  the  advocate,  but  the  partizan 
of  his  client." 

The  chief  public  act  of  Mr.  O'Connell's  life,  next  suc- 
ceeding the  Catholic  meeting,  held  on  the  return  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Hayes,  in  September,  1S17,  was  the  agency  he 
took  in  the  Kerry  election,  consequent  upon  the  dissolution 
of  Parliament  in  the  following  year.  In  supporting  the 
claims  of  the  Knight  of  Kerry,  against  the  Ascendancy  can- 
didate, Colonel  Crosbie,  he  delivered  one  of  the  most  splen- 
did orations  which  was  ever  uttered  from  the  lips  of  man."^ 

In  1819,  a  dinner  was  got  up  in  Dublin,  for  the  purpose 
of  uniting  both  Protestants  and  Catholics,  at  which  Mr. 
O'Connell  drank,  "  the  pious  and  immortal  memory  of 
William  of  Orange,"  toasted  the  Lord  Mayor,  and  kept  his 
tongue  off  the  Corporation.  In  return,  the  Lord  Mayor 
eulogized  the  stewards,  (Messrs.  O'Connell  and  Shiel,)  and 
the  few  Protestant  gentlemen  present  endeavored  by  cour- 
tesy and  mutual  concessions,  to  banish  the  symptoms  of 
failure  which  were  evinced  by  certain  empty  seats.  The 
movement,  unhappily  for  both  parties,  expired  still-born,  and 
the  fell  throne  of  anarchy  was  again  rescued  from  ruin. 

The  visit  of  George  the  Fourth,  in  1821,  to  his  Irish  sub- 
jects, raised  once  more  their  hopes,  filling  them  with  the 
most  sanguine  notions  of  speedy  emancipation,  which  were 
again  destined  to  be  disappointed.  Lord  Fingal  was  pre- 
sented with  "  a  yard  of  blue  ribbon,"  the  only  boon  offered 
"  to  the  Catholic  body.  Mr.  O'Connell  was  one  of  a  deputa- 
tion to  present  an  address  to  the  monarch,  and  was,  of 
course,  most  graciously  received,  like  the  others,  by  the 
heartless  *'  Vitellius,"  who  knew  how  to  smile  and  hate  at 
the  same  time.  It  was  in  reference  to  this,  as  he  regarded 
it,  slavish  reception  of  the  head  of  the  House  of  Brunswick, 
and  in  retaliation  for  Moore's  "  meddling  with  his  dear 
Carbonari,"  that  Lord  Byron  penned  his  bitter,  yet  beauti- 
ful, satire  on  the  Catholic  leaders  and  the  Irish  people  gen- 
erally, in  which  these  stanzas  occur  : 

*  Huish,  in  his  voluminous  and  ill-arranged  Memoirs  of  O'Connell, 
(London,  1836,)  publishes,  by  some  singular  oversight,  several  pages 
of  a  written  address  of  Charles  Phillips  to  the  Electors  of  Sligo,  as 
the  peroration  of  O'Connell's  speech  at  the  Kerry  election !  The 
whole  address  is  to  be  found  in  the  collection  of  Phillips'  speeches. 


36 

Wear,  Fingal,  thy  fetters !     O'Connell,  proclaim 
His  accomplishments,  his,  and  thy  country  convince 

That  a  moment  like  this  is  worth  ages  of  fame, 

And  that  "  Hal  is  the  rascaliest,  sweetest  young  prince." 

"Will  thy  yard  of  blue  ribbon,  poor  Fingal,  recall 
The  fetters  from  millions  of  Catholic  limbs  ? — 

Or  has  it  not  bound  thee  the  fastest  of  all 

The  slaves  who  now  hail  their  destroyer  with  hymns  ? 

The  reception  of  the  king  was  indeed  far  beyond  his 
deserts.  A  sensualist,  in  the  most  unqualified  sense,  he 
could  not  appreciate  the  rich  tide  of  affection  which  the 
Irish  nation  rolled  at  his  feet;  neither  would  he,  as  an 
honest  tyrant,  command  them,  Canute-like,  to  be  rolled 
back.  By  nature  lecherous,  by  education  obstinate,  invete- 
rate habits  of  dissipation  had  seared  his  heart  all  round  and 
to  the  very  core  ;  so  that  there  was  no  chord  which  the  hand 
of  humanity  could  thrill,  no  feeling  which  a  noble  sentiment 
could  count  upon  for  support.  A  son,  undutiful  and  head- 
strong; a  husband,  foresworn  and  faithless;  a  friend,  who 
regarded  men  as  toys  to  amuse  his  leisure  hours,  and  to  be 
cast  off,  from  any  whimsical  cause ;  he  was  a  monarch  only 
amongst  libertines,  and  the  sovereign  scoundrel  of  his  age. 
Yet,  he  professed  to  love  the  land  of  Sheridan  as  he  had 
loved  her  sons,  and  in  the  end  that  profession  was  found  to 
be  true.  While  the  cheers  of  her  peasantry  were  ringing 
in  his  ears,  he  blandly  smiled ;  whilst  the  glorious  mansions 
of  her  old  nobles  held  wide  their  gates  to  admit  him  to  fairy 
scenes,  he  praised  her;  to  the  Dublin  aldermen  he  was 
prodigiously  polite,  and  to  the  castle  belles  the  "  rascaliest, 
sweetest  young  prince."  But  the  channel  once  betAveen 
Ireland  and  himself,  the  people,  the  nobles,  the  civic  au- 
thorities, even  the  matchless  maidens  he  had  paid  homage 
to,  no  longer  held  a  place  in  his  remembrance  or  his  affec- 
tion. George  the  Fourth  had  neither  for  the  grievances  of 
his  subjects,  for  he  had  them  not  for  his  bosom  friends,  nor 
for  his  wives. 

But  a  new  light  was  dawning  on  the  land,  fairer  than  any 
of  the  delusive  hopes  of  the  past.  It  did  not  shine  from  the 
mansions  of  nobles,  nor  over  the  palaces  of  kings,  but  in  an 
humble  bookstore,  up  three  pair  of  stairs,  m  the  city  of 
Dublin,  with  but  ten  witnesses  of  its  ascent,  and  some  of 
them  very  unwillingly  so.     It  was   in   May,   1823,  that 


37 

O'Connell  and  Shiel  met,  without  previous  design  on  either 
side,  at  the  house  of  a  mutual  friend  in  the  county  of  Wick- 
low,  where  a  hearty  reconcihation  took  place  between  them. 
It  was  then  and  there  resolved  to  found  an  association, 
whose  members  should  pay  a  small  subscription  annually, 
to  be  called  the  Catholic  Association,  but  at  the  same  time 
to  take  in  men  of  all  creeds,  who  approved  of  its  objects. 
On  the  2.5th  day  of  May,  1S23,  the  last  Catholic  Associa- 
tion was  formed  in  Coyne's  bookstore,  Capel  street,  Dub- 
lin. A  preliminary  meeting  had  been  held,  at  which  a 
committee  was  appointed  to  frame  regulations  for  the  Asso- 
ciation, and  the  following  gentlemen  were  its  members : 
The  O'Connor  Don,  Sir  Ed.  Bellew,  D.  O'Connell,  Nicho- 
las Mahon,  Eneas  McDonnell,  Richard  Shiel,  R.  Lonergan, 
and  Messrs.  Callaghan,  Scanlan,  Oldham,  and  Hay. 
Such  are  the  immortal  names  of  the  founders  of  an  asso- 
ciation, which  soon  planted  its  tributaries  in  America,  in 
India,  in  Australia,  and  the  remotest  corners  of  the  earth ; 
which  strangled,  in  its  worst  form  and  most  strongly  forti- 
fied position,  the  foul  centaur  alliance  of  church  and  state, 
which  gave  freedom  to  Christendom's  old  church,  and 
swept  away  from  the  greatest  empire  of  our  times,  a  favor- 
ite system,  founded  in  the  morning  of  its  greatness,  allied 
to  all  its  modern  glories,  planted  on  every  inch  of  its  new 
territory,  and  flowed  through  every  channel  of  its  pow- 
er ;  a  system  on  which,  for  three  centuries,  the  British 
senate  had  propped  itself  up ;  which  had  accompanied  her 
victorious  generals,  and  become  as  the  shadow  of  her  for- 
tunate flag.  At  first  the  Association  was  a  feeble  thing, 
but  its  growth  to  maturity  was  rapid,  and  the  industry  of  its 
working  members  could  only  be  surpassed  by  the  energy  of 
its  several  champions  with  the  pen  and  the  voice. 
4 


3S 


CHAPTER  FIVE. 

Sketches  of  eminent  Writers  on  the  Catholic  Question.-— 
Right  Rev.  Dr.  Doyle. —  Thomas  Furlong. — ^'■Honest 
JbkIc  Lawless. ^^ — Thomas  Moore. 

The  Association  had  no  sooner  been  fairly  a-foot,  than 
the  attention  of  the  whole  country  became  rivetted  upon  its 
progress.  Its  two  orators — O'Connell  and  Shiel — were  long 
known  to  the  people,  as  men  of  surpassingly  great  genius 
and  the  most  profound  sincerity  in  the  Catholic  cause. 
Others  there  were  of  various  prominence,  but  these  were 
such  favorites  that  the  Irish  heart  could  take  in  no  other 
idols.  The  people  were  never  wearied  of  travelling  to  hear 
a  speech  from  either ;  the  newspapers  were  considered 
worthless  if  the  question — "  Is  there  anything  from  Dan,  or 
Shiel  ? " — should  be  answered  in  the  negative.  Eloquence, 
in  savage  or  in  civilized  society,  must  be  felt,  and  will  find 
its  weight — but  it  is  particularly  formidable,  if  orally  deliv- 
ered, and  in  times  of  revolution.  There  arose,  also,  from 
the  people  of  Ireland,  champions  of  different  device  and 
weapons,  but  of  no  less  zeal,  and  little  inferior  strength,  to 
guide  and  goad,  by  turns,  the  free  longings  of  the  nation. 
Of  these  great  pensmen,  some  must  necessarily  be  over- 
looked in  our  limited  space ;  I  have  chosen  four  names, 
however,  not  alone  for  their  greater  celebrity,  but  because 
their  walks  of  usefulness  were  widely  apart,  and  their  ad- 
vance characteristic  of  themselves.  Each  one's  life  might 
be  the  subject  of  a  volume  of  fruitful  narrative ;  but  to  them 
all,  we  can  give  only  one  poor  chapter. 

Thomas  Furlong  was  born  in  the  barony  of  Scarawalsh, 
convenient  to  the  ancient  town  of  Ferns,  in  the  county  of 
Wexford,  in  1794.  His  father  was,  in  the  country  phrase, 
a  "  snug  farmer,"  who  gave  him  a  liberal  English  educa- 
tion to  fit  him  for  commercial  pursuits,  to  which  end  he 
was  sent  to  Dublin  as  an  apprentice,  at  the  age  of  fourteen. 
Unlike  poor  Dermody,  he  attended  punctually  to  business, 
and  was  loved  by  his  employers  for  his  gentleness  and  at- 
tention.    Soon  after  the  publication  of  "  The  Misantlirope," 


39 

his  first  poem,  in  1819,  Mr.  Jameson,  an  eminent  distiller 
of  Dublin,  bestowed  on  him  a  confidential  office,  which  gave 
him  a  handsome  return,  and  allowed  him  every  opportunity 
for  prosecuting  his  mission  as  a  patriot-writer.  His  first 
effort  having  run  through  three  editions,  stimulated  him  to 
further  labors ;  and  in  1824  he  published  the  Plagues  of 
Ireland,  a  Satire. 

Previous  to  this  time,  he  had  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Moore,  Lady  Morgan,  and  Charles  Robert  Maturin,  all  of 
whom  entertained  for  him  the  highest  regard,  and  in  their 
several  circles,  were  of  much  assistance  to  his  reputation, 
which  they  took  an  honest  pride  in  establishing.  He  also 
contributed  extensively  to  the  New  Monthly  Magazine,  and 
in  1822  had  projected  the  Neio  Irish  Magazine.  He  be- 
came deeply  interested  in  the  progress  of  the  Catholic  ques- 
tion, as  well  from  an  innate  love  of  justice,  as  from  being 
himself  one  of  the  number  of  proscribed  Christians  in  a 
Christian  land.  His  pen  was  often  employed,  and  his  purse 
as  freely  produced  its  aids.  He  was  master  of  that  terrible 
gift,  which  few  of  our  writers  possessed  or  exercised  in 
verse — the  gift  of  portraying  men's  innermost  thoughts, 
follies,  and  weaknesses,  in  language  as  apt  as  the  effect 
was  evident.  Since  the  days  of  Swift,  there  had  been  little 
satire  written  in  Ireland,  and  that  little  was  of  a  character 
most  unworthy  of  its  subjects.  Moore  had  just  opened  a 
nev/  vein,  in  which  he  displayed  wonderful  powers  of  ridi- 
cule, and  brilliancy  of  fancy ;  but  he  could  not  be  said  to 
belong  to  the  legitimate  school  of  satire.  He  seized  upon 
the  foibles  of  nobles,  and  dandled  them  with  the  mischievous 
activity  of  an  unvicious  schoolboy.  He  never  grappled  with 
their  darker  passion — with  the  criminalities  of  the  court  of 
the  fourth  George,  or  the  bitter  antipathy  of  the  Eldons  and 
Percivals  to  everything  like  concession.  He  had  too  many 
flowers  in  his  chaplet  already,  to  covet  a  wreath  of  henbane. 
It  was  left  to  another  to  shed  poison  in  the  cup  of  the  op- 
pressor ;  and  he  performed  this  duty  with  terrible  liberality. 
There  were  few  so  high  as  to  escape  his  destroying  potion. 
He  had  never  basked  in  court  sunshine — had  never  dispos- 
sessed the  lap-dogs  of  fashionable  countesses — had  never 
courted  the  smiles  of  the  effeminate  skeletons  who  called 
themselves  the  nobles  of  the  land.  He  had  been  nursed 
amongst  the  people — was  little  given  to  romance,  and  less 
to  gallantry.     His  nature  was  transfused  through  his  writ- 


40 

ings ;  frank,  bitter,  terse,  and  direct  in  his  attacks,  he  came 
upon  the  castle  hacks  and  demagogues  of  the  land,  like  the 
destroying  angel  smiting  with  a  sword  of  flame.  He  came 
not  to  ridicule,  but  to  exterminate.  He  has  left  us  this  por- 
trait of  the  then  viceroy  : — 

"  Talk  not  of  Wellesley !  though  there  was  a  time 
"When  that  high  name  stood  forth  in  prose  and  rhyme ! 
Talk  not  of  Wellesley !  who  that  saw  his  day 
Of  more  than  regal  pomp,  and  sovereign  sway — 
Who  that  hath  marked  him  in  his  time  of  pride, 
Of  hosts  the  leader,  and  of  realms  the  guide  ; 
When  the  crushed  nabobs  shuddered  at  his  name, 
And  millions  bowed  before  him  as  he  came  ; 
The  source  of  power,  the  organ  of  the  laws, 
The  mark  at  once  for  envy  and  applause — 
Who  that  hath  viewed  tinn  in  his  past  career 
Of  hard-earned  fame,  could  recognize  him  here, 
Changed  as  he  is,  in  lengthened  life's  descent, 
To  a  mere  instrument's  mere  instrument ; 
Begirt  with  bigots,  and  beset  with  fools, 
Crippled  by  Canning's  fears,  and  Eldon's  rules  ; 
Sent  out  to  govern  in  his  sovereign's  name. 
Yet  clogged  with  those  that  thwart  each  liberal  aim ; 
A  mournful  mark  of  talents  misapplied, 
A  handcufl'ed  leader,  and  a  hoodwinked  guide ; 
The  lone  opposer  of  a  lawless  band ; 
The  fettered  chieftain  of  a  fettered  land  ? " 

It  is  chiefly  on  the  merits  of  this  poem,  that  many  biog- 
raphers have  agreed  in  assigning  to  him  the  title  of  the 
Irish  Churchill.  In  this,  however,  Furlong  committed  a 
great  fault  in  coupling  the  agitators  with  the  enemies  of 
the  land,  but  one  which  he  more  than  redeemed  by  the  en- 
ergetic co-operation  which  he  lent  them,  after  being  con- 
vinced of  their  sincerity.  Nor  was  he  an  unrecognized 
advocate  of  religious  toleration ;  the  great  leader  of  that 
struggle  declared  him  "  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  the  enemy," 
and  at  its  termination,  his  portrait  was  engraved  for  the 
Catholic  Association,  in  common  with  those  of  Moore, 
Byron,  and  Shiel. 

As  on  this  work  his  reputation  chiefly  rests,  we  cannot 
refrain  from  indulging  our  disposition  to  extract  a  couple  of 
passages  further,  indicative  alike  of  a  just  conception  of  the 
satirist's  oflice,  a  faultless  versification,  and  an  ardent  pa- 
triotism. 

Amongst  other  characters  distingfuished  in  "  Saint"  Fam* 


41 

ham's  train,  was  tlie  Rev.  Mr.  Graham,  of  Magilligan,  a 
small  beer  poet  and  a  foaming  apostle  to  the  Gentiles.  Of 
him  Furlong  gives  a  finished  sketch  : — 

"  Lo !  as  his  second,  in  these  troublous  times, 
Comes  crazy  Graham,  with  his  ribald  rhymes ; 
View  the  vile  doggrel,  slowly  dragged  along, 
To  mock  at  grief,  and  sneer  away  a  wrong. 
Mark  how  he  stoops,  laboriously  to  drain 
The  last  low  oozing  of  his  muddy  brain, 
Until  at  length,  as  champion  of  the  cause, 
He  gains  his  end — promotion  and  applause. 
It  comes  !  'tis  his — his  object  from  the  first — 
'T  is  his  !  and  now  let  Popery  do  its  worst  ■ 
The  low-born  crowd  may  toil  to  swell  his  pride, 
'Tis  his  to  take — to  triumph  and  deride  ; 
'T  is  his  of  new-framed  acts  to  make  the  best — 
To  jeer  his  slaves,  and  call  his  faith  a  jest ; 
'Tis  his  to  grasp  what  cant  or  craft  hath  won  ; 
'T  is  theirs  to  strive,  to  struggle,  and  pay  on. 
View  this,  ye  dolts,  who  prate  about  the  poor  • 
View  it,  ye  scribes,  and  say,  shall  it  endure  ? 
View  it,  ye  race,  who  reason  from  the  past, 
And  ask  your  hearts  if  such  can  always  last." 

The  following  glorious  passage,  in  relation  to  the  intol- 
erant Orange  factions,  the  poorer  classes,  and  the  insensi- 
bility of  the  government  to  the  state  of  the  nation,  will 
conclude  our  selections  from  this,  alas !  too  rare  poem  • — 

"Name  not  the  'Gang,'  let  no  harsh  truths  be  told 
Of  those  whom  senates  in  mute  awe  behold ; 
Breathe  not  a  fault !   perchance,  ere  drops  a  sound, 
Their  air-drawn  hosts  may  rise  and  hem  thee  round  j 
Their  mustered  myriads  may  be  poured  along. 
And  by  some  thrust,  or  hedge-shot,  stop  thy  tongue ; 
Bludgeons  or  bottles  may  adorn  each  hand. 
And  blazes,  blows,  and  bluster  scare  the  land  ; 
Great  is  their  power !  think  how  the  lodgers  run, 
Though  none  had  e'er  began  at  number  one. 
Great  is  their  power !  nay,  turn  and  gaze  again 
On  the  black  brethren  of  Cathedral  Lane ; 
On  the  lean  race  who  snatch  a  scanty  pay 
From  hammering  nails  and  Popery  through  the  day  • 
On  those  who  stitch,  and  those  who  mount  the  loom, 
Round  Mitre  Alley,  or  along  the  Coombe  ; 
On  those  half  shod,  half  shirted,  and  half  fed, 
AVho  steal  at  night  to  deck  the  Dutchman's  head. 
Great  is  their  wealth !  say,  can  their  stock  be  small. 
When  twelve  and  six-pence  came  from  Donegal  ? 
Great  is  their  learning !  though  some  letters  tell 
That  even  their  great  Grand  Masters  scarce  can  spell ; 
4^ 


42 

Great  is  their  zeal !  their  piety !  and  great 
That  cant  which  links  their  cause  with  Church  and  State. 
***** 

Let  Brownlow  talk — let  Dawson  trumpet  forth 

The  deeds  that  grace  the  myriads  of  the  North ; 

Let  raving  Lees  prolong  his  holy  lies, 

And  Goulbourn  plead,  and  Peel  apologize  ; 

Let  riots  spread,  let  murders  still  increase, 

And  long  processions  blast  the  hope  of  peace ; 

Let  oaths  be  sworn,  or  added  marks  be  told, 

More  dark,  more  fearful,  than  they  seemed  of  old ; 

Let  lodges  curse  the  country  and  the  town — 

Still,  late  or  soon,  the  faction  shall  go  down. 

Yes  !  though  connivance  makes  endurance  long, 

Still  truth  works  onward,  and  her  light  is  strong  j 

Though  sloth  or  dulness  makes  oppression  sure, 

Necessity  itself  must  bring  the  cure ; 

Though  caution  comes,  and  slowly  cries,  '  Forbear ! ' 

There  's  something  drowns  that  warning — 't  is  despair. 

Yes !  if  the  dolts  who  rule,  their  aid  withdraw^, 

Man  stands  self-armed — 't  is  nature's  leading  law; 

If  those  who  govern,  still  betray  their  trust, 

And  will  not  act,  a  tortured  people  must !  " 

But  in  another  character  than  that  of  the  political  poet, 
we  find  him  equally  patriotic.  As  the  translator  of  Carolan's 
Remains,  Thomas  Furlong  is  an  exception  in  the  history  of 
Irish  genius.  For  the  previous  two  centuries,  no  man  had 
arisen  to  unlock  those  treasuries  of  song,  which  in  the 
crumbling  cloister,  or  the  wild,  roadless  mountain-glen,  be- 
times found  a  voice  to  charm  the  ear  of  the  wanderer.  No 
hand  had  been  stretched  forth  to  roll  the  stone  from  the  door 
of  the  sepulchre,  where  slept  the  soul  of  patriotism  and  of 
chivalry,  of  religion  and  of  love — the  national  music,  in  an 
obscure  tomb  hewn  by  stranger  hands  from  the  chilling 
rock. 

Carolan,  the  greatest  of  the  modern  lyric  poets  of  Ire- 
land who  wrote  in  the  ancient  language  of  the  land,  was 
born  about  the  year  1670,  at  Newton,  near  Nobber,  in  the 
county  of  Meath,  and  died,  according  to  O'Connor,  on  Sat- 
urday, the  25th  of  July,  1738."^  With  high  social  qualities, 
he  united  all  the  suavity  of  manner  that  usually  character- 
ized the  wandering  children  of  that  gentle  craft.  He  was  at 
once  the  author  of  words  and  the  composer  of  notes,  and  the 
names  of  more  than  three  hundred  original  airs  are  preserved, 

*  Vide  Hardiman's  Minstrelsy,  vol.  1,  page  42. 


43 

to  which  he  gave  birth — and  many  of  which,  Bunting  in- 
forms us,  were  played  at  the  great  meeting  of  the  Belfast 
Harp  Society  in  1792,  by  the  harpers,  O'Neil,  Fanning, 
and  Hempson."^  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  was  terribly 
attacked  with  the  small-pox,  which  almost  deprived  him  of 
life ;  and  he  only  arose  from  the  bed  of  suffering,  to  pass 
his  days  and  years  in  incessant  darkness.  He  then  began 
to  make  a  profession  of  that  which  had  been  previously  his 
.amusement ;  and  equipped  by  the  kindness  of  a  benevolent 
lady,  he  commenced  a  devious  pilgrimage,  that  only  ended 
at  the  grave. 

But  here  we  have  no  right  to  pursue  the  singular  story 
of  his  life.  He  lived ;  he  wrote  and  played,  and  loved, 
and  died — ^but  was  not  forgotten.  In  the  days  of  the  Par- 
liament, appeared  the  works  of  Walker,  Miss  Brooke,  and 
Bunting,  on  the  musical  antiquities  of  Ireland.  These  pa- 
triots were  followed  in  their  enterprize,  by  Mr.  James  Har- 
diman,  of  Galway,  who,  in  1831,  published  the  first  full 
collection  of  the  original  words,  with  translations,  of  Irish 
melodies,  that  deserves  the  name. 

The  last  labor  of  Furlonor's  life  was  the  translation  of  the 
songs  and  short  lyrical  poems  of  Carolan,  for  this  collection. 
In  their  intrinsic  worth,  he  at  first  had  no  faith ;  but  on  ex- 
amination, he  found  them  so  pregnant  with  passion  and 
harmony,  that  he  entered  into  the  labor  with  all  his  soul. 

As  works  in  which  those  translations  have  appeared,  are 
very  rare  in  cis-Atlantic  libraries,  it  is  presumed  that  the 
reader  will  not  find  the  following  specimens  unworthy  of 
his  perusal : — 

PLAXTY    STAFFO'RD. 

Air — Carolari's  Receipt. 

"  "When  in  sickness  or  in  sorrow  I  have  chanced  to  be, 
My  hopes,  my  dear  Stafford,  were  placed  in  thee  ; 
For  thy  friendly  care  and  skill, 
And  thy  drink  more  cheering  still, 
"Left  the  jolly-hearted  bard  from  evil  ever  free  : 
At  midnight  all  merrily  our  cups  went  round  ; 
Our  joys  in  the  morning  the  gay  cordial  crowned  j 
For  the  past  had  plainly  shown 

That  in  this,  and  this  alone,  ' 

Old  Thurlough  unfailingly  true  comfort  found  ; 

*  For  the  particulars  of  this  celebrated  meeting,  see  Introductioii 
to  Bunting's  Ancient  Irish  Music,  3d  edition,  Dublin,  1840. 


44 

Drinking,  drinking, 
Never  thinking — 
Roaring,  raking, 
Harp-strings  breaking — 
Oh !  this  is  my  delight — 't  is  the  life  for  me  ; 
Then  let  glasses  overflowing 
Still  o'er  the  board  keep  going. 
Bright  gleams  of  bliss  bestowing 
On  the  sons  of  glee. 

Oh!  many  joyous  years  may  my  friend  still  see, 
This — this  my  fond  prayer  to  the  last  must  be  j 
Let  the  country  all  around 
With  my  Stafford's  praise  resound. 
As  the  lover  of  wild  merriment  and  harmony ; 
Filling,  quaffing, 
Joking,  laughing — 
Ever  pleasing. 
Never  teasing — 
Still  plying  the  gay  bard  with  the  song-fraught  wine  j 
Oh  !  Stafford,  dear  thou  art 
To  this  old  but  honest  heart ; 
Aye !  its  fondest,  warmest  part 

Throbs  for  thee  and  thme." 

The  following-  is  in  a  different  strain  : — 

NANCY   COOPER. 

"  Oh !  loved  one,  how  temptingly  fair  is  that  face, 

On  which  thousands  have  gazed  but  to  sigh ; 
How  winningly  smooth  seems  each  notion  of  grace, 

"When  thy  shape  of  soft  brightness  glides  by ; 
Though  some  in  th)'^  absence  a  throb  may  excite. 

When  near  thee  their  triumph  is  o'er  ; 
They  shrink  in  thy  presence — they  fade  in  thy  light  ; 

They  droop,  and  look  lovely  no  more. 

Those  brilliant  gray  eyes,  with  those  tresses  all  curled — 

That  bosom  where  love  holds  his  throne — 
Dear  !  these  are  thy  dowry  for  what  were  a  world 

To  him  who  could  call  them  his  own  ? 
Of  millions  the  beauty  seems  blended  in  thee ; — 

But  why  on  this  theme  should  I  dwell  ? 
Through  life  there  's  but  sadness  and  silence  for  me— 

Farewell !  Nancy  Cooper !   Farewell !  " 

These  most  pathetic  stanzas  are  the  lan^age  of  a  really 
poetic  soul : 

CAROLAN'S  MONODY  ON  THE  DEATH  OF  HIS  WIFE. 
"Were  Heaven  to  yield  me,  in  this  chosen  hour, 
As  an  high  gift,  ordained  through  life  to  las^ 


45 

All  that  our  earth  hath  marked  of  mortal  power, 

The  concentrated  genius  of  the  past — 
Were  all  the  spells  of  Erin's  minstrels  mine, 

Mine,  the  long  treasured  stores  of  Greece  and  Rome  j 
All,  all  with  willing  smile  I  would  resign, 

Might  I  but  gain  my  Mary  from  the  tomb. 

My  soul  is  sad ;  I  bend  beneath  my  woe  ; 

Darkly  each  weary  evening  wears  away  ; 
Through  the  long  night  my  tears  in  silence  flow, 

Nor  hope,  nor  comfort  cheers  the  coining  day. 
"Wealth  might  not  tempt — nor  beauty  move  me  now, 

Though  one  so  favored  sought  my  bride  to  be  j 
Witness,  high  heaven  !  bear  witness  to  my  vow — 

My  Mary !  death  shall  find  me  true  to  thee. 

How  happy  once  !  how  joyous  have  I  been. 

When  merry  friends  sat  smiling  at  my  side  ; 
Now  near  my  end — dark  seems  each  festive  scene ; 

With  thee,  my  Mary,  all  their  beauty  died 
My  wit  hath  passed — my  sprightly  voice  is  gone — 

My  heart  sinks  deep  in  loneliness  and  gloom  j 
Life  hath  no  after-charms  to  lead  me  on — 

They  wither  with  my  Mary,  in  the  tomb." 

Such  is  an  inadequate  sample  of  the  powers  of  the 
translator,  and  the  genius  of  the  original.  It  is  hoped, 
however,  that  as  the  life  of  a  hero  is  sometimes  preserved 
in  the  remembrance  of  a  single  action — as  we  judge  of  a 
palace  or  a  monastery  of  other  days  by  the  greatness  of  its 
fragments — that  these  simple  and  random  selections  will 
enable  those  unacquainted  with  the  Gaelic  language,  to  form 
a  favorable  opinion  of  the  skill  and  poetic  taste  of  Furlong, 
as  well  as  of  the  real  genius  of  Carolan  ;  to  those  who 
know  the  latter  in  his  native  garb,  we  need  say  nothing  of 
the  appropriateness  of  his  Anglo-Irish  costume.  In  exe- 
cuting his  great  undertaking,  Furlong  possessed  no  notion 
of  patronage  ;  an  undying  love  of  country,  and  warm  ad- 
miration for  the  efforts  of  her  genius,  was  at  once  his  mo- 
tive and  reward.  The  following  fine  lines  were  the  last  he 
ever  wrote,  probably  suggested  by  a  self-examination  on 
the  bed  of  death,  when  he  might  have  asked  himself 
whether  he  had  deserved  the  gratitude  of  his  country : — 

"  Loved  land  of  the  bards  and  saints !  to  me 
There 's  nought  so  dear  as  thy  minstrelsy  ; 
Bright  is  Nature  in  every  dress, 
Rich  in  unborrowed  loveliness  j 


46 

Winning  in  every  shape  she  wears, 
Winning  she  is  thine  own  sweet  airs  ; 
What  to  the  spirit  more  cheering  can  be, 

Than  the  lay  whose  Hngering  notes  recall 
The  thoughts  of  the  holy,  the  fair,  the  free, 

Beloved  in  life  or  deplored  in  their  fall  ? 
Fling,  fling  the  forms  of  art  aside — 

Dull  is  the  ear  that  these  forms  enthrall ; 
Let  the  simple  songs  of  our  sires  be  tried — 

They  go  to  the  heart — and  the  heart  is  all. 
Give  me  the  full  responsive  sigh, 
The  glowing  cheek  and  the  moistened  eye  ; 
Let  these  the  minstrel's  might  attest — 
And  the  vain  and  the  idle  may  share  the  rest." 

In  his  political  life  we  cannot  find  that  he  ever  appeared 
as  a  speaker  but  on  one  occasion — when  the  health  of  Tom 
Moore  was  proposed  at  a  public  meeting  in  Dublin.  Mr. 
Furlong  spoke  briefly  in  response,  giving  to  the  bard  of  all 
Ireland  the  following  eloquent  character  :  "  It  is  impossi- 
ble," he  said,  "  to  speak  of  Moore  in  the  ordinary  terms  of 
ordinary  approbation — the  mere  introduction  of  his  name  is 
calculated  to  excite  a  warmer,  a  livelier  feeling.  We  ad- 
mire him  not  merely  as  one  of  the  leading  spirits  of  our 
time  ;  we  esteem  him  not  merely  as  the  eager  and  impas- 
sioned advocate  of  general  liberty — but  we  love  him  as  the 
lover  of  his  country.  We  hail  him  as  the  denouncer  of 
her  wrongs,  and  the  fearless  vindicator  of  her  rights." — 
Such  was  the  language  of  his  convictions,  weighed  in  the 
balance  of  a  kindred  genius,  and  a  not  inferior  patriotism. 
They  had  been  personally  acquainted  many  years  before. 
When  Moore  visited  Dublin,  in  1815,  Furlong  forwarded  to 
him,  for  perusal  and  judgment,  a  poem  in  blank  verse, 
written  previous  to  his  nineteenth  year — to  which  the  fol- 
lowing considerate  and  encouraging  answer  was  sent : — 

"  I  have  read  the  poem  Avhich  you  did  me  the  honor  to 
entrust  to  me,  and  think  highly  of  the  talent  and  feeling 
with  which  it  is  written  ;  but  I  should  deal  unfairly  with 
you,  were  I  to  promise  you  much  success  from  the  publica- 
tion of  it.  There  is  nothing  less  popular  at  the  present 
day,  than  blank  verse ;  as  some  proof  of  which,  I  need  not 
perhaps  tell  you,  (for  your  subject  and  his  are  somewhat 
similar,)  that  the  "  Excursion  "  of  Wordsworth,  one  of  our 
first  geniuses,  lies  unbought  and  unread  on  his  publisher's 


47     " 

shelves.  If,  however,  notwithstanding  this  discouragement, 
it  should  still  be  your  wish  to  try  the  fate  of  your  poem 
in  London,  I  shall  be  happy  to  give  you  all  the  aid  and 
recommendation  in  my  power. 

"  Yours,  &c.,         Thomas  Moore. 
"  Mr.  T.  Furlong,  &c.  &c." 

"  The  Misanthrope,"  and  the  "  Doom  of  D'Renzy,"  with 
his  better  known  political  musings,  and  several  smaller 
pieces  of  great  merit,  to  be  met  with  in  old  Dublin  maga- 
zines, would  form  an  exceedingly  beautiful  and  interesting 
volume — one  worthy,  in  point  of  genius,  to  keep  compan- 
ionship with  any  in  the  language.  Sooner  or  later,  there 
will  come  some  man  of  taste  and  liberality  among  the  tombs 
of  the  bards  of  Ireland — the  bards  of  her  dark  and  sunny 
seasons ;  and  to  him  will  the  honor  be  awarded  of  intro- 
ducing the  neglected  muse  of  Furlong,  bright  in  her  im- 
mortal beauty,  to  the  admiration  of  the  world. 

Unfortunately  for  his  country,  the  life  of  this  "  great 
young  man,"  as  Lord  Mansfield  said  of  the  second  Pitt, 
dwindled  to  a  most  untimely  span ;  a  constitutional  weak- 
ness, akin  to  consumption,  appeared  gradually  to  undermine 
his  health,  and  he  grew  alarmingly  feeble  in  the  spring  of 
1827.  He  lingered  on  till  midsummer,  eating  nothing, 
sleeping  but  little,  his  body  exhibiting  to  what  a  shadow 
mortality  may  be  reduced,  and  yet  live  on.  In  the  long, 
weary  hours  of  his  gradual  dissolution,  his  religious  and 
moral  habits  strengthened  and  supported  him;  as  he  sank 
towards  the  grave,  tioo  objects  alone  engaged  his  mind — the 
freedom  of  his  country  and  the  salvation  of  his  soul.  In  his 
earliest  days  he  had  been  deeply  impressed  with  the  pure 
truths  of  revealed  religion,  and  one  of  his  youngest  efforts 
was  this  elegy  on  the  death  of  a  dear  friend : — 

"  Ah !  if  the  Atheist's  words  were  true, 

If  those  we  seek  to  save, 
Sink — and  in  sinking  from  our  view, 

Are  lost  beyond  the  grave  ! 
If  life  thus  closed — how  dark  and  drear 
Would  this  bewildered  earth  appear ! 

Scarce  worth  the  dust  it  gave. 
A  tract  of  black  sepulchral  gloom, 
One  yawning,  ever  opening  tomb. 


48 

"Blest  be  that  strain  of  high  belief, 

More  heaven-like,  more  sublime, 
Which  says,  that  souls  that  part  in  grief. 

Part  only  for  a  time ! 
That,  far  beyond  this  speck  of  pain. 
Far  o'er  the  gloomy  grave's  domain, 

There  spreads  a  brighter  clime, 
Where  care,  and  toil,  and  trouble  o'er,. 
Friends  meet,  and,  meeting,  weep  no  more." 

On  the  2oth  of  July,  1827,  the  patriotic  poet  breathed  his 
last.  He  is  buried  in  the  churchyard  of  Drumcondra,  near 
DubHn,  close  to  the  grave  of  Grose,  the  celebrated  anti- 
quary, and  above  his  ashes  is  this  expressive  epitaph : 

To  the  Memory  of 

Thomas  Fcjrlong-,  Esq., 

in  whom  the  purest  principles  of 

Patriotism  and  Honor 

were  combined  with 

Superior  Practical  Genius, 

This  Memorial  of  Friendship 

is  erected  by  those  who  valued  and  admired 

His  Various  Talents,  Public  Integrity, 

And  Private  Worth. 

He  died  the  25th  of  July,  1827,  aged  33  years. 

May  he  rest  in  Peace. 

Simultaneous  with  the  publication  of  Furlong's  satires, 
appeared  the  letters  of  the  immortal  Bishop  of  Kildare  and 
Leighlin,  which,  for  vigor  and  purity  of  composition,  are  un- 
excelled. From  the  importance  attached  to  them  on  both 
sides  of  the  channel,  it  is  but  just  to  say,  that  he  was 
amongst  the  ablest  of  those  who  facilitated  by  their  genius 
the  advent  of  emancipation. 

Born  in  an  age  when  his  country  was  about  to  emerge 
from  her  long  night  of  sufferings,  war  and  impoverishment, 
he  rose  sublimely  above  the  darkling  millions  of  his  breth- 
ren, and  the  genius  of  his  mind  became  the  precursor  of  a 
brighter  and  less  mutable  radiancy.  Placed  in  a  rank 
where  he  held  power  without  its  semblance,  and  exercised 
its  influence  without  ostentation,  he  harbored  no  thought  but 
what  the  Immaculate  Founder  of  Christianity  might  sanc- 
tion, and  lived  by  the  doctrine  that,  "no  life  is  more  pleas- 
ing to  God,  than  that  which  is  useful  to  man."  Through  a 
struggle  unprecedented  in  the  histories  of  civilized  nations, 
he  passed  without  a  stain  upon  his  robes,  although  no  other 


49 

was  so  constantly  enveloped  in  the  din  of  its  conflicts ;  for, 
like  those  great  generals  we  read  of,  he  who  gave  orders 
with  such  wisdom,  did  not  disdain  to  labor  with  the  miner 
and  the  pioneer.  Himself  one  of  the  aggrieved,  the  charge 
of  selrishness  never  was  preferred  against  him ;  his  worst 
opponent  could  accuse  him  of  notliing  in  his  extensive  con- 
troversies, unworthy  the  pen  of  an  ecclesiastic  and  a  ruler 
in  the  church ;  but  by  blending  his  sacred  love  of  charity 
and  admiration  of  tolerant  institutions,  with  education,  the 
cause  of  the  poor,  and  the  enfranchisement  of  conscience, 
he  gave  to  politics  the  spiritual  character  of  the  loftiest  phi- 
lanthropy. His  patriotism  was  generated  in  his  soul,  and 
the  shadow  of  the  altar  was  with  him  on  the  rostrum.  No 
public  man  ever  possessed  greater  firmness  of  character ;  no 
Christian  divine  more  o^entleness  of  carriasfe  and  meekness 
of  heart ;  the  homage  of  a  nation  could  not  spoil  him  for  an 
hour,  nor  the  eminence  of  a  delinquent  shield  him  from  his 
rebuke  ;  the  presence  of  a  British  Parliament  catechizing 
him  as  to  his  faith  and  practice,  could  not  abash  him,  nor 
their  repulsive  sternness  render  them  insensible  to  the  pres- 
ence of  a  superior  being — the  minister  of  a  more  dread 
tribunal.  In  private  life  ever  active  for  the  salvation  of 
souls,  modest  and  retiring  even  to  taciturnity,  pious  in  his 
practice,  generous  to  the  poor,  he  never  thought  for  himself 
when  parting  with  his  last  sixpence  ;  persuasive  to  the 
habitual  sinner,  he  preferred  the  mission  of  mercy  to  that 
of  justice,  and  attracted  many  to  the  church  by  his  apostolic 
demeanor,  whom  the  most  eloquent  appeals  could  never 
soften  into  compunction.  In  a  word,  his  life  was  the  best 
commentary  on  the  doctrines  he  preached,  and  they  were 
of  God. 

The  town  of  New  Ross,  in  the  county  of  Wexford,  has 
the  honor  of  being  the  birth-place  of  Doctor  Doyle.  His 
parents  were  of  humble  rank,  but  respected  by  all  their 
neighbors  for  their  honesty  and  pious  lives.  James,  their 
distinguished  son,  was  born  in  17S6.  Of  his  childhood  we 
can  learn  nothing,  except  that  he  early  evinced  a  studious 
habit  of  mind,  and  was  fond  of  entering  the  churches  when 
few  were  assembled  in  them.  At  school,  his  readiness  in 
acquiring  every  task  assigned  him,  marked  him  out  from 
all  his  juvenile  comrades.  These  indications  suggested  to 
the  minds  of  his  parents  the  station  in  life  for  which  he  was 
best  qualified.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  was  sent  to  tlie 
5 


college  of  Coimbra,  in  Portugal,  where  he  completed  his 
studies,  and  first  entered  into  orders.  He  was  one  of  the 
last  of  the  Irish  Catholic  priesthood  that  obtained  an  educa- 
tion on  the  continent,  as  the  royal  college  of  St.  Patrick's, 
at  Maynooth,  near  Dublin,  was  opened  previous  to  his 
leaving  Ireland.  In  the  early  ages  of  the  church,  science, 
affrighted  from  the  continent  by  the  barbarian  hordes  who 
swarmed  above  the  prostrate  colossus  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire, made  Ireland  her  isle  of  refuge,  because  where  the 
Roman  had  never  been,  the  Vandal  never  followed.  'T  was 
then  that  the  Continent  incurred  an  educational  debt  to  Ire- 
land, which  it  generously  repaid  with  the  interest  of  centu- 
ries during  the  period  when  penal  laws  exiled  the  scholar, 
and  made  the  acquirement  of  letters  a  felony  in  the  first  de- 
gree. For  more  than  two  hundred  years  the  cloisters  of 
Louvain  and  Salamanca,  of  St.  Omers  and  Coimbra,  be- 
held the  stalwart  forms,  and  rang  with  the  jocund  mirth,  of 
Hibernian  students.  Of  the  college  life  of  Dr.  Doyle,  we 
only  know  that  it  led  to  distinction  at  an  unusually  early 
age,  and  was  rudely  broken  off  by  an  irruption  of  the 
French  army,  under  Bonaparte,  into  Portugal.  At  one  pe- 
riod, as  he  informs  us,  his  mind  vibrated  between  the  Athe- 
ism of  the  French  philosophers  and  the  truths  of  revelation ; 
but,  happily  for  religion,  he  passed  from  skepticism  to 
faith.  During  the  war  in  Portugal  he  joined  the  army,  and 
laying  aside  the  garb  of  an  Augustinian,  to  which  order  he 
belonged,  "he  took  up  the  cap  and  sword," ^  as  much  per- 
haps in  defence  of  the  monastic  institutions  of  the  country, 
as  from  his  strong  notions  of  the  allegiance  due  to  the  Brit- 
ish crown.  Another  countryman  became  the  deliverer  of 
Portugal — and  the  friar  returned  to  his  duties  and  his  home. 
In  1S18  he  returned  to  Ireland,  and  proceeding  to  New 
Ross,  he  had  the  satisfaction  to  find  his  parents  in  good 
health ;  after  remaining  with  them  for  a  short  time  and  ex- 
changing congratulations  with  his  friends,  he  went  to  Car- 
low,  with  the  intention  of  applying  for  a  professorship  in  the 
newly-founded  college. 

At  the  request  of  the  president  he  became  Professor  of 
Classics,  and,  during  the  seven  years  of  his  continuance  at 
Carlow,  filled  successively  the  chairs  of  Natural  and  Moral 
Philosophy,  and  of  Theology  and  the  Sacred  Scriptures ;  in 

♦  Vide  Life,  p.  11. 


51 

all  of  which  situations,  he  displayed  a  profundity  of  knowl- 
edge, pleasure  in  his  labors,  and  a  kindness  of  disposition, 
which  endeared  him  to  his  pupils,  and  rendered  him  of  im 
mense  value  to  the  college.  In  1819  Dr.  Corcoran,  bishop 
of  Kildare  and  Leighlin,  died,  and  at  a  meeting  of  the  clergy, 
on  the  27th  of  August  of  that  year.  Dr.  Doyle  was  nomi- 
nated with  two  others,  as  candidates  for  the  vacant  see ;  in 
October  the  Pope's  bull  arrived,  confirming  the  first  nomina- 
tion, and  on  the  14th  of  November  he  was  consecrated  bishop 
in  the  parish  church  of  Carlow,  by  the  Most  Rev.  Dr.  Troy, 
assisted  by  the  Right  Rev.  Drs.  Murray,  Everard,  Ma- 
rum,  and  Walsh. 

In  a  time  of  peculiar  distress  and  public  excitement,  at  the 
early  age  of  thirty-three  years,  he  is  placed  over  an  extensive 
diocese,  whose  peasantry  turn  their  eyes  towards  him  for  ad- 
vice as  naturally  as  do  the  clergy.  A  band  of  fanatics,  proud, 
wealthy,  and  domineering,  were  thrusting  Bibles  into  the 
hands  of  the  pauperized  laboring  classes,  and  with  supreme 
charity  offering  the  bread  of  life  to  starving  and  uneducated 
cottagers.  To  relieve  present  sufferings  and  prevent  the 
approach  of  those  in  perspective,  was  the  duty  of  the  prelate 
and  the  patriot.  With  much  of  the  statesman  in  his  natuie, 
and  an  energy  equal  to  any  amount  of  exertion,  he  used  all 
his  powers  and  influence  to  bring  about  four  great  political 
changes, — the  emancipation  of  Catholics,  the  abolition  of 
tithes,  the  enacting  of  poor-laws,  and  a  provision  for  na- 
tional education.  His  various  letters  and  essays  on  these 
subjects  would  fill  several  volumes,  besides  others  purely 
polemical,  which  are  marked  with  all  the  power,  ease,  and 
dignity  of  his  style.  The  most  eloquent  series  were  his 
"  Letters  to  a  Friend  in  England,"  and  "  Letters  on  the 
State  of  Ireland,"  under  the  signature  of  J.  K.  L.  As  a 
political  writer  he  is  assuredly  one  of  the  first  of  his  age ; 
clear,  massive,  logical,  in  his  arguments,  and  unsurpassed 
in  the  felicity  with  which  those  arguments  are  arranged. 
In  his  polemical  warfare  he  was  engaged  against  Arch- 
bishop Magee,  the  ablest  man  that  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  of  Ireland  ever  enrolled  in  its  ministry.  This 
learned  and  truly  gifted  dignitary  was  a  student  of  Trinity 
College  when  the  celebrated  Hely  Hutchinson  was  provost. 
After  entering  mmor  orders  he  conceived  an  opinion  of 
going  to  the  bar,  and  applied  to  the  provost  for  his  consent, 
without  which  he  could  not  jprosecute  his  intention.    Hutch- 


62 

inson  was  the  pink  of  courtiers,  and  as  an  election  was 
about  to  take  place  in  the  university,  Mr.  Magee  was  given 
to  understand  that  if  he  voted  the  right  way  his  request 
might  be  complied  with.  After  the  election  he  called  on 
Hutchinson,  who,  assuming  his  blandest  smiles,  took  him 
by  the  hand  and  solemnly  addressed  him  thus : — "  You 
knoWi  my  dear  sir,  that  I  am  placed  a  guardian  over  the 
youth  of  Ireland,  and  how  could  I  answer  to  my  conscience, 
if  I  were  to  spoil  so  excellent  a  tutor,  by  allowing  your  re- 
quest?^^  Mr.  Magee  was  successively  Dean  of  Cork,  and 
Archbishop  of  Dublin.  He  is  the  author  of  a  celebrated 
book  on  the  Atonement,  and  some  others,  less  successful,  on 
various  religious  subjects.  He  was  justly  the  darling  of  his 
party  and  the  champion  of  his  church.  With  all  his  fame 
and  influence,  Dr.  Doyle  entered  into  controversy  with  him, 
on  two  occasions :  the  first,  on  the  contents  of  a  charge 
delivered  at  his  annual  visitation,  on  the  24th  of  October, 
1822,  in  which  he  used  the  terms  that  "  the  Presbyterians 
had  a  religion  without  a  church,  and  the  Romanists  a 
church  without  a  religion."  In  December  the  charge  ap- 
peared in  an  authorized  shape,  but  the  obnoxious  passage 
was  much  mitigated,  the  words  "  without  what  he  called  a 
religion"  being  substituted.  In  1827  Dr.  Magee,  in  another 
charge,  termed  Popery,  "  the  slough  of  a  slavish  supersti- 
tion ;"  and  on  this  was  founded  his  second  and  last  contest 
with  J.  K.  L.  The  Marquis  Wellesley,  who  was  then 
lord-lieutenant,  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  his  friend,  the 
archbishop,  "  got  the  worst  of  it."  Moore,  in  his  well- 
known  book,  the  Travels  of  an  Irish  Gentleman,  says,  in 
view  of  Dr.  Doyle's  great  exertions,  "  If  St.  Basil,  St.  Am- 
brose, and  a  few  more  such  flowers  of  the  churches,  had 
been  able  to  borrow  the  magic  nightcaps  of  their  contempo- 
raries, the  seven  sleepers,  and  were  now,  after  a  nap  of 
fifteen  centuries,  just  opening  their  eyes  in  the  town  of  Car- 
low,  they  would  find  in  the  person  of  Dr.  Doyle,  the  learned 
bishop  of  Leighlin  and  Ferns,  not  only  an  Irishman  whose 
acquaintance  even  they  might  be  proud  to  make,  but  a  fellow 
Catholic,  every  iota  of  whose  creed  would  be  found  to  cor- 
respond with  their  own;"^  and  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  in 
his  "  Reasons  for  not  talcing  the  Test,'^  speaking  of  the  reply 
to  the  second  charge,  "  recommends  it  to  every  dispassionate 

*  Vol.  1,  page  71. 


53 

rea(!^er ; — for  argument  and  eloquence  it  stands  unrivalled." 
From.  Dr.  Magee's  ability  or  fame  we  would  not  detract 
one  tittle ;  he  certainly  was  equal  to  his  gifted  adversary,  in 
every  attribute  of  genius,  learning,  and  research ;,  partizans 
will  contend,  on  one  hand,  that  he  was  superior,  and  on  the 
other,  that  his  weakness  was  in  the  cause  he  had  espoused — 
the  more  likely  supposition. 

One  of  the  most  important  events  in  the  life  of  Dr. 
Doyle,  was  his  examination  before  the  Parliamentary  com- 
mittee, in  1825,  on  the  civil  and  religious  state  of  Ireland. 
In  this  arduous  position,  he  bore  himself  with  a  self-posses- 
sion, candor  and  ease,  that  astonished  his  examiners  and 
the  public.  Mr.  Brownlow,  and  Mr.  Dawson,  M.  P.  for 
Down,  and  brother-in-law  to  Sir  Robert  Peel,  both  bitter 
enemies  to  the  Catholic  claims,  confessed  that  their  scruples 
were  removed  by  his  answers.  The  lords  spiritual  and 
temporal,  from  thenceforth  spoke  with  less  dogmatism  and 
arrogance  of  the  church  of  Rome  and  its  Irish  professors. 
The  bigot  remained, 

»  « "With  the  bow-string  of  his  spirit  all  unbent," 

and  only  random  shots  were  fired,  and  they  not  with  much 
effect,  at  the  Catholic  clergy,  from  that  time  up  to  1829, 
when  the  emancipation  bill  was  passed.  Thus,  the  grati- 
tude of  his  country  was  doubly  due  him  ;  and  had  it  pleased 
Heaven  to  spare  him  to  his  nation,  he  would  have  gone  on 
laboring  for  her  weal  until  she  would  become  bankrupt  in 
rewarding  him.  From  '29  to  '34  he  wrote  several  able 
letters  on  a  Repeal  of  the  Union,  Poor-laws,  against  secret 
societies,  and  on  the  necessity  of  a  Literary  Institute  for 
Ireland.  But  his  chief  and  greatest  labor  was  for  the  abo- 
lition of  tithes.  On  this  topic  he  was  mighty  indeed  ;  every 
source  of  his  strength  was  fathomed  to  the  bottom,  and  no 
one  labored  more  effectually  to  instil  his  own  precepts.  He 
once  expressed  a  hope  that  in  every  Irishman's  soul  "  the 
hatred  of  tithes  might  be  as  lasting  as  their  love  of  justice." 
Events  have  proved  that  neither  this  deed  of  justice,  nor  a 
cure  for  her  overgrown  pauperism,  has  Ireland  to  expect 
from  a  foreign  legislature. 

The  death  of  this  able  and  exemplary  prelate  took  place 
on  the  15th  of  November,  1834,  in  the  48th  year  of  his 
age,  and  the  15th  of  his  episcopacy.     For  some  months  pre- 
5# 


54 

vious,  this  sorrowful  event  was  looked  for  with  certainty. 
It  was  on  a  Sunday  morning  at  ten  o'clock — the  hour  of 
prayer.  A  new  and  splendid  cathedral,  which  he  had 
erected  at  Carlow,  was  crowded  as  usual — when  there  came 
over  the  kneeling  crowd  an  announcement  of  their  great, 
their  irreparable  loss ;  quickly  the  dreadful  tidings  leaped 
from  lip  to  lip,  and  then  the  hundreds,  as  if  prostrate  by  a 
general  paralysis,  fell  motionless  before  the  altar,  and  their 
moanings  only  told  them  to  be  things  of  life.  But  his 
mourners  were  many  without  that  bereaved  congregation. 
The  tidings  of  his  death  struck  on  the  heart  of  the  nation 
like  the  herald  of  a  fearful  distemper.  The  desolation  of 
orphanage  sat  on  every  face ;  and  in  voiceless  misery  of 
heart,  for  many  a  day  the  sad  event  was  lamented.  The 
void  which  he  left  in  public  affection,  was  the  most  une- 
quivocal acknowledgment  of  the  importance  of  his  position 
while  living — and  the  liberality  with  which  all  sects  became 
his  mourners,  the  best  testimony  to  his  utility.  Surely 
there  can  be  no  spectacle  more  truly  sublime  than  the  undi- 
vided respect  poured  forth  above  the  resting-place  of  the 
good — when  the  barriers  of  sectarian  life  no  longer  shut 
out  the  pilgrim,  whose  impartiality  leads  him  to  the  shrine 
of  virtue,  even  if  it  be  the  grave  of  an  opponent.  Then, 
the  petty  controversies  of  life  are  overlooked  in  the  melan- 
choly conviction  that  a  holy  and  a  useful  man  has  bidden 
farewell  forever  to  those  he  taught  and  those  he  loved. 
Such  was  the  unanimous  feeling  of  regret  that  pervaded 
the  people  of  Ireland,  on  the  receipt  of  the  intelligence  that 
their  J.  K.  L,  was  cold  in  death — that  the  tongue  so  elo- 
quent, and  the  pen  dipped  in  inspiration,  were  thenceforth 
to  be  numbered  with  the  things  that  were.  To  the  disgrace 
of  their  authors,  one  or  two  snarling  obituaries  were  di- 
rected against  his  memory  ;  but  they  sought  to  pierce  gran- 
ite with  their  goose-quills.  Censure,  to  be  feared,  must  be 
felt ;  every  one  could  discover  the  falseness  of  the  assertions 
derogatory  of  him,  whose  character  was  known  to  all — for 
it  was  simply  that  of  a  pious,  learned,  and  highly-gifted 
prelate,  a  taintless  patriot,  and  a  most  benevolent  man. 
Long  may  it  cease  to  be  otherwise  looked  upon ;  for  then 
the  altar,  science,  and  civilization  will  have  reached  the 
evening  of  their  decline,  and  ingratitude,  infidelity  and 
barbarism  will  strain  eagerly  to  fill  their  vacant  seats. 
In  a  letter  to  the  Rt.  Hon.  Spring  Rice,  Dr.  Doyle  has 


66 

rightly  laid  down  his  own  principles :  <'  I  am  a  churchman 
but  I  am  unacquainted  with  avarice,  and  I  feel  no  worldly 
ambition.  I  am  attached  to  my  profession,  but  I  love 
Christianity  more  than  its  earthly  appendages.  I  am  a 
Catholic  from  the  fullest  conviction,  but  few  will  accuse  me 
of  bigotry.  I  am  an  Irishman,  hating  injustice,  and  ab- 
horring with  my  whole  soul  the  oppression  of  my  country ; 
but  I  desire  to  heal  her  sores,  not  to  aggravate  her  suf- 
ferings," 

Tho3Ias  Moore,  whose  biogTaphy,  such  as  the  public 
know  it,  is  as  extensively  read  as  the  efforts  of  his  genius 
are  admired,  contributed  in  a  great  degree,  by  his  Irish 
Melodies,  the  Epistles  of  the  Fudge  Family,  and  other  po- 
litical pieces,  to  establish  the  success  of  the  Catholic  cause. 
His  life,  indeed,  has  been  but  one  prolonged  effort  of  patriot- 
ism— one  endless  succession  of  thoughts  on  Ireland.  We 
find  it  under  his  theology  in  the  Travels  of  an  Irish  Gentle- 
man ;  we  meet  it  in  the  groves  of  Persia,  and  on  the  Ghe- 
ber's  hill  of  refuge.  In  the  melodies  it  melts  us  into  tears, 
or  rouses  us  to  indignation  ;  in  the  epistles  it  convulses  us 
with  laughter  ;  in  the  memoirs  of  Captain  Rock,  it  assumes 
as  many  colors  as*the  chameleon — while  it  is  the  spirit  and 
soul  of  all  his  thoughts  throughout.  ]Mr.  Moore  was  born 
at  No.  12  Angier  street,  Dublin,  on  the  2Sth  of  May,  1780. 
His  first  teacher  was  Mr.  Samuel  Whyte  of  Grafton  street, 
who  had  likewise  under  his  tuition  Brinsley  Sheridan. 
Under  the  teachings  of  this  kind-hearted  "Dominie,"  the  tena- 
cious memory  of  his  pupil  was  stored  with  wonderful  rapid- 
ity; in  his  12th  year  he  meditated  and  actually  commenced 
the  translation  of  tbe  odes  of  the  Greek  poet,  Anacreon. 
His  proficiency  in  the  Latin  and  French  languages  was 
equally  remarkable,  and  in  the  history  of  the  middle  ages, 
a  study  of  which  he  was  always  fond.  Amongst  other  pe- 
culiarities, Mr.  Whyte  had  a  rage  for  private  theatricals ; 
and  so  great  was  his  experience  in  these  matters,  that  he 
frequently  managed  the  "  getting  up  "  of  the  amateur  per- 
formances, in  which  the  resident  nobility  of  Dublin  were 
anxious  to  excel.  In  these  performances,  his  little  pupil 
often  figured,  and  occasionally  wrote  the  prologues.  Thus, 
at  an  age  so  tender,  Moore  by  his  own  merit  entered  the 
high  places  of  the  aristocracy,  and  acquired  an  unhappy 
preference  for  their  habits,  which  has  remained  with  b'.m 
through  life.     The  reUef  bill  of  1793  enabled  Moore   to 


56 

enter  Trinity  College,  where  he  resumed  the  translation  of 
Anacreon,  which  he  completed  in  1799,  and  published, 
with  a  dedication — ^by  permission — to  George,  Prince  of 
Wales.  The  work  is  more  admired  as  a  beautiful  version, 
than  for  the  truthfulness  of  the  translation. 

In  1801,  Moore,  having  gone  to  London,  published  a  vol- 
ume of  original  songs,  odes  and  sonnets,  under  the  title  of 
"  Poems,  by  Thomas  Little  the  Younger,"  which  contains 
many  splendid  proofs  of  a  fine  imagination  and  sprightly 
wit,  but  greatly  tarnished  and  obscured  by  a  pervading  spirit 
of  lasciviousness.  The  result  of  this  was,  as  may  be  ex- 
pected, that  the  critics  rose  in  arms  en  masse,  and  the  only 
trouble  amongst  them  seems  to  have  been,  who  should 
devour  the  largest  portion  of  the  unfortunate  Mr.  Little. 
This  point,  however,  was  universally  ceded  to  the  celebrated 
Jeffrey,  at  that  time  editor  of  the  Edinburgh  Review,,  whose 
strictures,  cutting  with  the  easy  voice  of  the  south  wind, 
were  far  less  bearable  than  the  stormy  wrath  of  all  the 
other  defenders  of  morality  and  religion.  The  hot  blood 
of  the  bard  was  stirred  within  him ;  he  chose  not  to  pay 
back  scorn  for  ill  usage,  like  Byron,  but  after  his  own  Mile- 
sian method  of  revenge,  he  sent  the  critic  a  challenge, 
couched  in  words  of  fearful  determination.  They  met  at 
Chalk  Farm,  near  London,  a  notorious  duelling  ground  — 
but  the  authorities  interfered,  and  on  drawing  the  charges 
from  the  pistols  of  the  hostile  men  of  letters,  discovered 
only  paper  bullets  !  This  friendly  invention  of  the  seconds 
was  seized  upon  by  Byron,  in  1809,  in  his  masterly  satire 
directed  against  "  English  Bards  and  Scotch  Reviewers  ;" 
and  he  ralhoa  both  parties  without  mercy  on  the  occasion. 
Once  more  tht,  irritable  Anacreon  challenged ;  but  this  time 
there  was  no  meeting,  as  Byron  was  on  the  shores  of  the 
Bosphorus  before  it  reached  him ;  on  his  return  from  the 
Childe  Harold  tour,  matters  were  amicably  arranged  by  the 
interference  of  Samuel  Rogers,  and  the  two  bards  became 
bosom  friends.  Moore's  intimacy  with  the  Prince  of  Wales 
is  well  known ;  the  cause  of  its  sudden  irruption  has  been 
variously  accounted  for — but  it  appears  that  it  was  occa- 
sioned by  the  Regent's  asking  him  if  he  was  related  to  a 
certain  peer  whose  family  name  is  Moore  ;  to  which  the 
poet  promptly  replied,  "  No,  my  liege  !  my  father  was  a 
grocer  of  Dublin."  A  sneer  of  contempt  rose  on  the  noble 
faces  at  the  board,  and  rested  even  on  the  lip  of  George ; 


67 

and  from  that  night  Moore  was  not  seen  again  in  royal 
company.^  The  inheritors  of  the  blood  that  triumphed  at 
Hastings  and  Agincourt,  whose  bastard  sires  had  enrolled 
their  names  on  the  roll  of  Battle  Abbey,  turned  coldly  from 
his  conversation  ;  and  this  was  the  true  source  of  his  falling 
into  "  contempt  at  court," — disgrace,  that,  in  the  eyes  of 
all  upright  men,  will  be  a  title  to  everlas^  ng  honor  !  In 
1811  he  was  very  busy  at  politics,  and  published  two  excel- 
lent pamphlets  on  the  subject  of  the  Catholic  claims— rone, 
**A  Candid  Appeal  to  the  Public,"  and  the  other  in  the  form 
of  "A  Letter  to  the  Roman  Catholics  of  Dublin  " — both  of 
which  were  of  great  usefulness  at  that  time.  In  1812  he 
produced  the  "  Fudge  Family  in  Paris,"  a  series  of  satiric 
letters  on  the  then  government,  in  which  an  agent  of  British 
diplomacy  at  Paris,  Mr.  Fudge,  an  expatriated  Irishman, 
Phelim  O'Connor,  and  one  or  two  others,  are  the  writers,  and 
Lords  Castlereagh,  Liv^erpool  and  Eldon,  Dr.  Duigenan  and 
others  of  that  ilk,  are  the  prominent  butts.  This  work  ap- 
peared with  the  anonymous  signature  of  Thomas  Brown. 
The  "  Two-Penny  Post  Bag,"  the  "  Skeptic,"  "  Tom  Crib's 
Memorial  to  Congress,"  and  "  Intolerance,"  are  his  other 
prominent  satires,  all  written  in  a  mingled  vein  of  severity 
and  humor,  that  teaches  the  reader  to  despise  the  objects  of 
his  spleen  without  sympathizing  in  the  severity  of  their 
punishment.  It  was  in  the  same  year,  we  believe,  that  he 
commenced  his  "  Irish  Melodies,"  the  grandest  combination 
of  sweet  sounds,  historic  truth,  and  the  eloquent  pleadings 
of  suffering  patriotism,  ever  produced  by  a  single  pen. 
These  melodies  are  the  proudest  feature  in  his  literary  ca- 
reer ;  they  are  universally  admired  in  Europe  and  America ; 
they  have  been  rendered  into  many  languages,  and  furnished 
the  gallant  Poles  with  their  last  war  songs.  The  Irish 
heart,  barren  after  the  sorrow  of  centuries,  felt  their  reviv- 
ing influence  ;  and  in  some  measure  his  own  words  of  hope 
are  verified  : — 

"The  stranger  shall  hear  thy  lament  on  his  plains; 
The  sound  of  thy  harp  shall  be  sent  o'er  the  deep, 
Till  thy  tyrants  themselves,  as  they  rivet  thy  chains, 
Shall  pause  at  the  song  of  the  captive,  and  weep." 

*  Illustrative  of  the  Regent's  extreme  vanity  of  rank,  there  is  an 
anecdote  tbld  of  tliat  counterpart  df  Ohefstferfield,  the  late  Beau  Brura- 
m^i,  who  laid  a  wa^^  w'iVh  sb'm^s  fiieiiil^,  in  an  hc^r  oft  ex^'^m^nt^ 


« 


53 

They  have  been  so  often  judged  and  re-judged,  ^and  so 
often  eulogized,  and  by  so  many  eminent  critics,  that  it  is 
needless  to  dwell  on  their  claims  to  universal  favor ;  for  to 
those  who  are  acquainted  with  them,  (and  who  is  not  ?)  all 
praise  is  needless.  Moore's  musical  acumen  has  been 
matter  of  surprise  to  the  most  eminent  composers  ;  amongst 
others,  Dr.  Burney  and  Sir  John  Stevenson  have  borne 
evidence  to  its  delicacy  and  ripeness.  The  airs  he  wrote 
to,  akhough  not  originally  known  by  very  poetic  names,  are 
amongst  the  sweetest  in  the  world.  The  great  Gemanini 
declared  he  had  heard  nothing  so  original  west  of  the  Alps, 
and  Handel  has  said  he  would  rather  have  composed  "  Aileen 
Aroon,"  than  his  most  prosperous  operas.  The  historian  of 
the  Life  of  Godfrey  of  Boulogne,  the  leader  of  the  second 
crusade,  remarks  that  "  but  for  the  Irish  harp,  there  would 
seem  to  be  no  music  in  these  wars ;"  and  an  Italian  pro- 
fessor of  great  skill  exclaimed,  on  hearing  for  the  first  time 
the  same  instrument,  "  that  must  be  the  music  of  a  people 
who  have  suffered  slavery."  To  Moore,  next  to  Bunting, 
is  due  the  chief  honor  of  reviving  the  fame,  if  not  the  use 
of  his  country's  neglected  melodies,  and  the  resuscitation 
of  her  harp.  For  who  but  himself  could  have  recognized 
the  spirit  of  the  "  Red  Fox,"  as  chanted  by  some  country 
crone,  and  infuse  it  into  that  glorious  song,  "  Let  Erin  re- 
member the  days  of  old," — or,  that  words  divine  might  be 
wedded  to  the  popular  ballad  air  of  "  Thady  ye  gandher  ?  " 

As  a  prose  writer,  Mr,  Moore's  fame  is  not  equal  to  his 
reputation  as  a  poet.  His  "  Memoirs  of  Captain  Rock," 
published  in  1825,  is,  however,  one  of  the  very  best  books 
that  ever  was  penned,  on  that  prolific  theme  of  many  pens, 
the  sufferings  of  Ireland.  The  knowledge,  the  philosophy, 
and  the  wit  displayed  in  its  composition,  were  never  equal- 
led, to  our  belief,  in  a  similar  work.  The  "  Travels  of  an 
Irish  Gentleman  in  search  of  a  Religioji,^^  it  has  been 
bruited,  was  a  penance  imposed  on  Mr.  Moore  for  the  sins 
of  Mr,  Little — which,  to  judge  from  its  pages,  was  per- 
formed with  scrupulous  diligence.  The  biographies  of 
Byron,  Sheridan,  and  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald,  are  all 
works  of  industry,  and  unblemished  specimens  of  fine  style. 

that  he  would  call  the  Prince  by  his  proper  name  in  their  presence. 
He  won  the  wager ;  bat  a  servant  was  ordered  to  call  Mr.  Brummell's 
carriage,,  and  he  supped  with  "Creorge"  no  more. 


69 

The  History  of  Ireland,  his  most  pretending  prose  work,  is 
one  of  the  best  as  yet  written  of  that  country,  aUhough  very 
far  removed  from  perfection.  It  is  a  singular  truth  that  no 
Irish  history  now  extant  can  be  divested  of  some  radical 
defect.  Taafe  is  too  declamatory,  McDermott  too  meta- 
physical ;  Keating  believes  over  much,  and  Tom  Moore 
over  little.  But  the  latter  has  done  more  for  Irish  history 
than  any  other  writer  in  our  time  who  has  made  it  his  study 
or  subject. 

From  this  summary,  and  it  may  appear  dogmatic,  manner 
of  speaking  of  the  important  productions  of  our  national 
bard,  we  pass  again  to  his  poetry  ; — we  pass  with  willingness 
from  Ireland's  sad  realities  to  Persia's  gay  romance.  Lalla 
jRookh  needs  no  praise,  can  never  feel  censure,  and  stands 
impregnable  to  all  the  beleaguering  hosts  of  criticism. 
Original  in  its  conception  as  in  its  execution,  it  has  ap- 
peared like  one  of  those  rare  meteors,  whose  birth  a  seventh 
age  is  alone  destined  to  witness.^  Our  nature  has  no  feel- 
ing that  it  does  not  reach  ;  it  puts  in  motion  all  the  complex 
machinery  of  the  heart.  It  is  throughout  "  a  string  of  gems" 
— a  sheet  of  gold,  scattered  with  every  delicate  and  gorgeous 
flower  that  "  the  land  of  the  sun"  produces.  With  a  little 
stretch  of  imagination,  he  has  supposed  that  the  pure-minded 
Emmet,  or  the  great  rebel  chief  (who  seems  fated  to  be  the 
last  of  the  Geraldines)  stood  before  him  for  the  portrait  of 
his  heroic  Hafed.  The  betrayal  is  another  trait  of  resem- 
blance ;  and  we  would  not  desire  a  prettier  epitaph  for  the 
late  Mr.  Reynolds  of  Kilkee  Castle,  or  loyal  Major  Sirr,  than 
that  sublime  malediction  commencing  with  the  line, — 

"  Oh  !  for  a  tongue  to  curse  the  slave." 

It  is  only  a  little  too  good  for  either.  "  Lalla  Rookh  "  has 
passed  through  the  hands  of  millions ;  every  dialect  in 
Europe  has  its  version,  and  of  all  the  people  who  read  it  in 
the  original,  there  is  not  one  who  does  not  ever  after  love 
the  name  of  Moore.  Shortly  after  its  publication,  it  was 
dramatized  and  enacted  at  Berlin,  the  Queen  of  Prussia  and 
the  Emperor  of  Russia  taking  the  characters  of  Feramoz 
and  Lalla  Rookh.     In  a  letter  written  by  Byron  to  Moore, 

*  Here,  in  the  first  and  second  editions,  I  was  guilty  of  praising 
the  Revoh  of  Islam,  a  poem  of  great  verbal  beauty,  but  dangerous  to 
morals  and  criminal  towards  Christianity. 


60 

he  says,  "  I  shall  not  suffer  the  Misses  Byron  to  read  it 
lest  they  discover  there  is  a  greater  poet  than  their  father.' 
It  is  an  honorable  testimony  to  Moore's  private  character, 
that  those  who  have  written  of  his  career  or  life,  prefer 
dwelling  on  his  social  virtues  and  accomplishments,  rather 
than  the  triumphs  of  his  fancy  or  the  splendor  of  his  wit. 
His  conversational  powers  are  attractive  and  varied,  while 
no  man  brings  less  of  his  literary  pride  into  company  than 
he  does.  With  the  ladies  he  is  still  successful,  and,  for  a 
veteran  adorer  of  the  sex,  he  writes  love  songs  with  nearly 
as  much  spirit  as  he  did  forty  years  since.  He  sings,  too, 
delightfully;  for,  like  another  Fitz  Eustace,  he 

"  Can  frame  love  ditties,  passing  rare, 
And  sing  them  to  a  lady  fair." 

After  all  the  wear  and  tear  affections  suffer  in  passing 
though  a  life  like  his,  his  heart  is  still  full  of  fresh  feeling 
and  vigorous  attachment.  When  he  visited  Dublin  in  1835, 
his  stay  was  celebrated  as  a  public  event  of  great  impor- 
tance ;  the  high  hopes  of  his  original  designs  for  Ireland  eked 
out,  and  discovered  the  same  heart  then,  that  once  waked 
into  life  and  gave  a  name  to  her  national  melodies.  His 
public  reception  at  Bannow,  in  the  native  county  of  his 
parents,  was  much  after  the  manner  of  a  Roman  ovation. 
Nine  peasant  girls,  bright  as  the  beings  of  his  own  fancy, 
crowned  him  with  a  coronal  of  laurel  and  roses  interwoven. 
The  entire  population  sang  his  praises,  in  their  own  untu- 
tored style,  and  the  following  beautiful  stanzas,  from  the  pen 
of  Macdonald  Doyle,  a  young  author  of  increasing  celebrity, 
commemorates  at  once  the  bard  and  his  liberal  entertainers. 

"  "Welcome !  thou  minstrel  of  the  "West ! 

While  thousands  throng  to  greet,  to  bless  thee, 
In  feeble  strain  among  the  rest, 

A  rustic  rhymer  dares  address  thee ; 
Unskilled  to  pour  the  polished  lay, 

And  nursed  in  life's  less  favored  ranks, 
He  ventures  in  his  homely  way 

To  welcome  thee  to  '  Bannow's  Banks.' 

When  first  I  sung,  't  was  when  thy  strains 

Their  wizard  spell  around  me  threw, 
Of  tears,' and  loves,  and  flow'rs  and  chains, 

I  fondly  trife'd  tb  sing  like  yiiu  j 


61 

And  if 't  was  Moore's  entrancing  songs 

That  plumed  my  muse's  early  wing, 
To  whom  if  not  to  Moore  belongs 

The  little  she  was  taught  to  sing. 

Lone,  pining  in  her  dark  retreat, 

A  nameless,  friendless  thing,  she  grew, 
Wild  as  the  wild  flower  at  her  feet, 

As  simple  and  as  lovely,  too; 
In  sooth  she  was  a  lonesome  muse. 

And  few  would  care  to  test  her  voice, 
Till,  as  she  sung  ot  Ireland's  woes. 

She  touched  the  manly  heart  of  Boyse.* 

V 

You  first  awoke  her  infant  lyre — 

He  bade  the  puny  numbers  thrill; 
You  kindled  first  its  minstrel  tire — 

He  trims  and  feeds  and  fans  it  still. 
From  you  the  mimic  warbler  springs — 

You  urged  her  tiny  wings  to  soar ; 
If  you  approve  the  strain  she  brings. 

Can  '  minstrel  boys '  solicit  more  ? 

0  long  shall  Bannow's  unborn  race, 

As  countless  ages  roll  along, 
In  Bannow's  rural  records  trace 

This  visit  of  '  The  Child  of  Song.' 
Then  pardon  this  untutored  lay, 

And  deign  t'  accept  his  humble  thanks. 
Who,  rhyming  in  his  brain-sick  way. 

Thus  welcomes  thee  to  Bannow's  banks." 

In  his  matrimonial  affairs  he  has  been  happier  than  most 
men  of  letters.  His  cottage  at  Sloperton  is  as  inviting  a 
homestead  as  ever  was  the  residence  of  a  mind  so  active 
and  an  imagination  so  brilliant.  His  lady  was  chosen  after 
his  own  mode  of  courtship.  "  You  may  go  in  for  eighty 
years,"  was  remarked  by  his  friend  Byron  ;  he  is  now  sixty- 
four,  and  the  completion  of  the  noble  poet's  prophecy,  is,  to 
human  vision,  nowise  improbable. 

The  revival  of  the  Catholic  agitation,  in  '23,  which  had 
dra^vn  out  the  letters  of  Doyle,  and  the  muses  of  Furlong 
and  Moore,  produced  yet  another  name  well  worthy  of 
honor.  Mr.  Lawless  was  a  native  of  Belfast,  and  one  of 
the  most  devoted  advocates  of  emancipation.     His  disinter- 

*  Thomas  Boyse,  Esq.,  of  Bannow — himself  a  poet  of  no  humble 
merit,  a  patriot  eloquent  and  liberal,  and  naturally,  therefotej  a  fritentl 

6 


62 

estedness  was  carried  almost  to  a  fault;  for  there  can  be 
little  doubt  but  that  his  incessant  labors,  by  night  and  day, 
with  voice  and  pen,  sapped  the  feeble  foundations  of  his 
constitution,  and  precipitated  him  into  a  premature  grave. 
He  was  a  man,  whose  soul  was  formed  for  martyrdom,  one 
of  those  gentle-hearted  enthusiasts,  whose  character  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  define,  so  delicately  are  the  womanly 
and  heroic  virtues  blended  in  their  natures.  He  was  a 
scholar  passionately  fond  of  the  history  of  every  noble  peo- 
ple, and  an  idolater  of  his  own.  In  the  old  Irish  character 
he  saw  realized  the  firm  virtue  of  the  Roman,  with  the  fiery 
spirit  of  the  Greek  character.  He  was  a  poet  from  the  in- 
spiration of  a  noble  sympathy  with  the  great :  to  his  mind, 
McMurough  was  worse  than  Satan  in  his  treachery,  Crom- 
well more  terrible  than  Caligula,  and  Owen  Roe  O'Nial, 
the  perfection  of  a  soldier  and  an  Irish  prince.  Wrapt  up 
in  these  noble  contemplations,  his  own  mind  became  sat- 
urated, as  it  were,  with  sentiments  of  chivalry,  and  he  would 
as  readily  have  expired  beneath  the  headsman's  hands,  in 
Ireland's  cause,  as  he  would  have  despatched  a  Beresford 
or  a  Foster,  by  a  few  dashes  of  his  fearless  pen,  in  the  col- 
umns of  the  Irishman.  In  person,  Mr.  Lawless  was 
neither  powerful  nor  commanding,  and  his  peculiarly  stiff 
carriage  was  only  redeemed  from  ridicule  by  a  countenance 
at  once  noble  and  commanding.  A  Roman  nose,  set  as 
irrevocably  as  destiny;  an  eye,  large,  lustrous,  and  inces- 
santly flashing  with  the  innate  light  of  a  well-stored  mind, 
and  an  enthusiastic  fancy ;  a  brow,  firm,  comprehensive  and 
open,  with  a  bountiful  growth  of  hair,  made  him  conspicuous 
in  every  assembly.  His  voice  was  sonorous,  and  capable  of 
exquisite  moderation,  and  his  action  in  speaking  abundant 
and  appropriate.  His  intellect,  originally  clear  and  creative, 
had  been  sharpened  by  classic  lore,  and  strengthened  by 
long  and  frequent  libations  from  the  delicious  fountains  of 
history.  In  every  pursuit  the  intensity  of  his  nature  led  the 
way,  and  its  generosity  left  no  estimable  fact  or  thought 
unnoted;  though  he  had  been  an  ardent  and  discursive 
reader,  he  remembered  much ;  and  few  men  ever  better 
knew,  than  he  did,  how  to  embellish  a  rhetorical  picture,  or 
strengthen  a  position  by  apt  references  to  the  conduct  of 
antiquity.  Such  was  the  man,  who,  after  battling  with  all 
,the  Vandalism  of  the  north,  appeared  in  propria  persona^ 
to  Work  the  machinery  of  the  great  engine  of  emancipation. 


63 

The  Irish  people  knew  how  to  understand  so  unusual  a 
character.  Themselves  without  selfishness  and  without 
fear,  the  name  of  Mr.  Lawless  became  endeared  to  them  at 
once,  and  during  his  life  the  love  which  they  bore  him  in- 
creased every  day,  more  and  more.  A  scholar  without  pre- 
tension, and  a  favorite  without  vanity,  his  personal  friends 
believed  they  never  could  sufficiently  display  the  high  re- 
spect in  which  they  held  so  rare  and  admirable  a  mixture 
of  modesty  and  worth. 

The  loss  of  Dr.  Doyle  was  beginning  to  be  less  felt,  al- 
though not  less  lamented,  when  another  of  the  ablest  friends 
of  O'Connell  and  Ireland  was  taken  away,  in  the  death  of 
Mr.  Lawless.     He  died  in  London,  and  was  there  buried.^ 

It  is  singular  and  degrading,  that  the  best  of  Irishmen 
rest  abroad,  while  the  traitors  and  tyrants — the  Castlereaghs 
and  McNallys,  have  been  carefully  restored  to  her.  Grat- 
tan,  Lawless,  Sarsfield,  the  O'Neils  and  O'Donnells,  the 
Laceys,  Daunes,  and  Brownes,  have  been  coveted  in  death 
by  England,  France,  Rome,  Austria  and  Russia ;  while 
Duigenan  and  Reynolds  are  given  to  the  soil,  whose  very 
worms  sicken  on  their  perjured  ashes.  How  unworthily 
does  Ireland's  acquiescence  in  such  an  unnatural  arrange- 
ment, compare  with  the  conduct  of  France  towards  Bona- 
parte ?  Mr.  Lawless  died  in  Cecil  street,  London,  on  the  Sth 
of  August,  1837,  and  was  buried  on  the  16th  of  that  month. 
The  London  and  Dublin  Orthodox  Journal  for  Saturday, 
the  26th  of  August,  contained  the  following  record  of  the 
mournful  event : 

"  The  mortal  remains  of  this  gentleman  were,  on  the  16th 
instant,  deposited  in  the  vault  attached  to  the  Catholic  chapel 
in  Moorfields.  Several  friends  of  the  deceased  wished  to 
offer  to  the  Irish  patriot  the  tribute  of  a  public  funeral ;  but 
the  absence  of  almost  all  his  political  compeers  from  town 
induced  those  more  immediately  interested  to  adopt  a  differ- 
ent course.  ^  =^  =^  The  hearse  being  in  readiness,  the 
procession  moved  slowly  along  the  Strand,  Fleet  street,  &c. 
The  first  coach  contained  Philip  Lawless,  the  eldest  son  of 
the  deceased.  Captain  Lawless,  (his  brother,)  Henry  Wil- 
liams, Esq.,  and  Dr.  Best.     In  the  second,  were  Sheridan 

*  "We  have  seen  it  stated,  recently,  in  the  Irish  papers,  that  an  at- 
tempt was  about  to  be  made  to  bring  home  the  bones  of  Lawless,  and 
we  hope  it  will  succeed. 


64 

Knowles,  Mr.  J.  0.  Gumming  Hill,  Mr.  Witham  and  Mr. 
Ireland ;  while  the  third  was  occupied  by  Captain  Roberts, 
R.  N.,  Dr.  Alley,  Mr.  Robese  and  Mr.  Shea.  The  funeral 
rites  were  celebrated  by  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  Mr.  Spencer, 
brother  of  Earl  Spencer,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hall.  The  cere- 
mony was  highly  affecting,  every  individual  present  having 
for  years  been  '  linked  in  bonds  of  closest  amity '  with  their 
departed  friend." 

That  the  influence  of  the  illustrious  writers  whose  names 
we  have  grouped  together,  was  much  felt,  not  only  in  Ire- 
land, but  in  all  parts  of  the  empire  and  in  foreign  countries, 
maybe  readily  conceived.  For- what  with  the  pure  logic 
and  lofty  eloquence  of  J.  K.  L.,  the  irresistible  keenness  and 
crushing  sarcasm  of  Furlonsf,  the  bold  rhetoric  and  infec- 
tious  pathos  of  honest  Jack  Lawless,  and  the  wit,  the 
imagery,  the  pointed  commentaries,  and  the  vivid  declama- 
tion of  Moore,  there  perhaps  never  was  a  subject  more  tho- 
roughly handled  by  such  brilliant,  yet  such  diverse  talents. 
The  mind  and  the  heart  were  the  provinces  in  which  alter- 
nately these  intellectual  giants  reigned  at  will,  stirring  up 
old  memories  to  feed  the  fire  of  revolution,  or  arming  and 
elevating  the  reasoning  powers  of  the  chained  populace  to 
the  level  of  a  free  destiny.  In  this,  the  most  glorious  mis- 
sion of  genius,  three  of  them,  it  is  plainly  known,  sacrificed 
time  and  health ;  the  third  yet  lives — the  last  of  the  race  of 
bards.  The  brightest  lamp  of  his  generation  has  burned  the 
longest  of  that  host  who  shed  light  from  Olympus  over  every 
history,  country,  and  passion.  Him,  of  whom  the  great 
Byron  wrote : — 

"  Anacreon  Moore, 
To  whom  the  lyre  and  laurels  have  been  given, 
"With  all  the  trophies  of  triumphant  song ; 
He  won  them  nobly,  may  he  wear  them  long ! " 


65 


CHAPTER   SIX. 

The  Catholic  Question  in  foreign  Countries. — America. — 
Thomas  Addis  Emmet. — France. — Germany. — British 
Depende7icies. — Groivth  of  the  Association. — English 
Frotestant  Liberality. — Rev.  Sidney  Smith. 

The  fame  of  the  wonderful  league  of  mind  and  enthusi- 
asm which  formed  the  Catholic  Association,  soon  spread 
abroad.  The  Irish  in  America  were  amongst  the  first  to 
give  back  an  echoing  cheer  to  their  far-distant  kindred,  toil- 
ing for  emancipation,  which  they  had  won  at  the  sad  pen- 
alty of  exile.  Meetings  were  held  in  all  the  important 
cities  of  the  republic,  and  the  honored  names  of  Emmet, 
McNevin,  Gary,  and  Custis,  were  mingled  with  the  most 
disinterested  sympathy,  and  the  most  munificent  donations. 
The  three  first  named,  survivors  of  the  bloody  catastrophe 
of  1798,  drew  around  their  every  proceeding  the  reverence 
of  the  older  emigrants  from  their  own  country,  and  the 
deference  of  others,  who,  although  they  knew  not  Ireland, 
knew  enough  of  the  story  of  the  disastrous  finale  of  the 
United  Irish  Society,  to  treat  with  peculiar  respect  the  no- 
ble few  who  survived  its  wreck.  The  last  born  on  the  soil 
of  freedom,  nearly  allied  to  Washington,  and  the  inheritor 
of  his  principles,  was  no  less  devotedly  an  advocate  of 
Catholic  emancipation.  Nor  did  he  stand  alone  amongst 
Americans ;  for  many  good  citizens  shared  his  wishes,  and 
participated  in  his  labors.  The  name  of  the  first  men- 
tioned sympathizer  has  occurred  before  in  these  pages,  and 
it  cannot  be  tiresome  or  uninteresting  to  devote  a  brief  space 
to  the  consideration  of  a  character,  in  which  we  will  find 
blended,  the  best  virtues  which  our  nature  can  cherish,  with 
the  noblest  fortitude,  and  the  loftiest  purity. 

Thomas  Addis  Emmet  was  born  in  1764,  in  the  city  of 
Cork;  his  father  Avas  a  doctor  of  medicine,  who  soon  after 
removed  to  Dublin,  and  became  physician  to  the  castle. 
His  father  intended  to  educate  him  for  his  own  profession, 
and  for  that  purpose  he  studied  at  Edinburgh,  and  grad- 
uated with  distinguished  honor.  Here  he  had  for  school- 
6=^ 


66 

fellows,  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  Home,  afterwards  Lord 
Advocate  of  Scotland,  and  a  Swiss,  named  Constant,  who 
became  a  tribune,  under  the  French  Republic.  He  spent 
three  years  in  Edinburgh,  and  his  popularity  may  be  im- 
agined from  the  fact  that  he  was  president  of  no  less  than 
five  college  societies  at  the  same  time.  Leaving  college, 
he  visited  the  continent,  spending  two  years  on  his  tour; 
he  observed  institutions  with  the  eye  of  a  philosopher,  and 
analyzed  their  conditions  with  the  keenness  of  a  politician. 
In  all,  he  could  perceive  ten  thousand  voices  speaking  of 
equality,  and  protesting  against  the  injustice  of  class  legisla- 
tion. He  returned  from  his  tour,  an  earnest  and  enthusiastic 
republican.  Nor  did  he  hold  singular,  ideas  of  government. 
Already  the  example  of  the  colonists  of  North  America  had 
created  an  anti-monarchical  party  in  the  old  world — a  party 
which  has  ever  since  been  going  onward,  strengthening  and 
extending — which  is  dignified  by  the  learning  and  exalted 
by  the  disinterestedness  of  its  professors — which  has  been 
established  with  a  cement  of  blood,  drained  from  the  noblest 
hearts  of  Europe. 

On  his  return  to  Ireland,  Mr.  Emmet  passed  through 
London,  where  he  met  his  old  schoolfellow.  Mackintosh. 
In  their  conversation,  that  eminent  man  advised  him, 
strongly,  to  choose  law  as  his  profession,  assuring  him 
that,  if  he  did  so,  he  was  destined  to  rise.  On  his  return 
to  Dublin,  he  found  his  eldest  brother.  Temple,  dead,  and 
soon  after  entered  himself  as  a  law  student,  and  in  1790 
was  duly  admitted.  The  succeeding  year  he  prosecuted, 
on  behalf  of  James  Napper  Tandy,  the  lord-lieutenant  and 
council,  for  issuing  an  illegal  proclamation  !  This  bold  step 
reminds  one  of  the  old  adage,  of  warring  with  the  devil, 
and  holding  the  court  in  his  own  dominions.  Nothing  re- 
sulted from  it  favorable  to  the  national  cause  except  the 
evidence  of  Emmet's  legal  ability.  The  government  were 
astonished  at  the  boldness,  the  research,  and  acuteness  of 
the  young  advocate ;  and  a  proposition  was  immediately 
made  to  him,  of  judicial  preferment.  The  viceregal  wire- 
pullers have  ever  respected  the  talent  which  they  feared  ;  it 
has  been  their  constant  object  to  pickle  and  preserve  patri- 
otism, by  clothing  it  in  wig  and  ermine  ;  they  have  thirsted 
and  yearned  after  the  preferment  of  those  whose  opinions 
are  at  variance  with  their  own.  But  Thomas  Addis  Emmet 
was  a  man,  and  an  Irishman — a  benevolent  man,  and  he 


67 

therefore  refused  the  proffered  honor.  It  was  not  for  such 
a  gentle  heart  and  majestic  mind  as  his  to  be  "  the  interme- 
diate executioner,"  as  his  eloquent  brother  said  of  those 
brutal  statutes  which  punished  theft  with  death,  and  every- 
thing above  it  in  like  manner.  He  was  born  to  alter  bad 
laws,  not  to  execute  them ;  and  he  would  as  soon  have 
invoked  paralysis  upon  himself,  as  have  sat  on  the  same 
bench  with  a  Norbury  or  an  O'Grady. 

Mr.  Emmet  was  often  engaged  in  defending  the  United 
Irishmen  previous  to  his  actual  connection  with  them  in 
1796.  After  that  period,  by  previous  arrangement,  he  sel- 
dom appeared  on  behalf  of  any  of  his  fellow-revolutionists. 
On  one  occasion,  in  defending  a  prisoner  for  having  admin- 
istered the  oath  of  the  society,  he  took  up  that  document, 
which  is  as  follows,  and  read  it,  distinctly,  in  open  court : — 

"  I,  A.  B.,  in  the  presence  of  God,  do  pledge  myself  to  my 
country,  that  I  will  use  all  my  abilities  and  influence  in  the 
attainment  of  an  impartial  and  adequate  representation  of 
the  Irish  nation  in  parliament ;  and  as  a  means  of  absolute 
and  immediate  necessity  in  the  establishment  of  this  chief 
good  of  Ireland,  I  will  endeavor,  as  much  as  lies  in  my 
ability,  to  forward  a  brotherhood  of  affection,  an  identity  of 
interests,  a  communion  of  rights,  and  an  union  of  power, 
among  Irishmen  of  all  religious  persuasions,  without  which, 
every  reform  in  parliament  must  be  partial,  not  national, 
inadequate  to  the  wants,  delusive  to  the  wishes,  and  insuffi- 
cient to  the  freedom  and  happiness  of  this  country." 

"  Having  read  the  test,"  says  Dr.  Madden,  "  defended  its 
obligations  with  a  power  of  reasoning  and  a  display  of  legal 
knowledge,  in  reference  to  the  subject  of  the  distinction  be- 
tween legal  and  illegal  oaths,  which  the  counsel  for  the 
prosecution  described  as  producing  an  extraordinary  impres- 
sion, he  addressed  the  court  in  the  following  terms : — 

"  My  Lords :  Here,  in  the  presence  of  this  legal  court, 
this  crowded  auditory — in  the  presence  of  the  Being  that 
sees,  and  witnesses,  and  directs  this  judicial  tribunal — here, 
my  lords,  I,  myself,  in  the  presence  of  God,  declare  I  take 
the  oath." 

The  jury  were  electrified  at  his  boldness — the  bench  were 
mute  with  astonishment — the  prisoner  was  acquitted,  and 
the  court  adjourned. 


68 

Nor  did  he  confine  himself  to  his  profession  in  serving 
the  cause.  He  wrote  an  excellent  and  vigorous  style,  and, 
as  he  thought  deeply  and  reasoned  well,  his  contributions 
to  the  press  attracted  much  attention. 

Emmet  and  his  companions  were  arrested  at  Oliver 
Bond's,  in  Dublin,  on  the  12th  of  March,  1798.  Vfhen  he 
was  conducted  to  prison,  his  wife  accompanied  him,  and, 
with  heroic  fortitude,  withstood  every  effort  of  her  friends, 
as  well  as  of  those  in  authority,  to  remove  her  from  his 
side.  Young  and  gentle — reared  amid  the  refinements  of  a 
luxurious  city,  this  noble  woman  feared  not  sickness,  shrunk 
not  from  the  dreariness  of  her  gloomy  tenement,  regretted 
not  the  loss  of  that  liberty,  more  irksome  than  a  loss  of 
sight ;  but  dead  to  the  world,  she  lived  for  twelve  months  in 
prison,  like  a  fair  plant  of  another  clime  cast  by  stern  mis- 
chance upon  a  most  ungenial  soil. 

No  sooner  were  the  leaders  of  the  revolution  in  prison, 
than  false  advisers  sprung  up  amongst  the  people.  Rash- 
ness was  mistaken  for  zeal — deliberation  for  cowardice  ;  and 
victory  was  lost.  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald  and  Tone  were 
no  more.  France  was  a  passive  spectator  of  the  grievances 
she  had  fostered ;  the  south  had  been  unsupported,  and  the 
north  unsuccessful ;  and  the  rekindled  flame  of  liberty  went 
out,  because  there  was  no  wise  hand  to  tend  it.  Mr. 
Emmet  and  his  friends,  therefore,  entered  into  a  treaty 
w4th  the  government,  stipulating  for  their  personal  safety, 
and  offering,  as  a  bonus,  to  leave  the  kingdom  forever.  To 
this  proposal  they  received  answer,  that  if  they  would  dis- 
close the  names  of  others,  not  leaders,  but  men  of  importance 
in  the  society,  their  terms  should  be  acceded  to.  This,  of 
course,  they  indignantly  refused,  and  accordingly,  their  im- 
prisonment continued.  Early  in  '99  they  were  transferred 
from  Newgate  to  Fort  George,  in  Scotland,  where  they 
continued  three  years — Mrs.  Emmet  still  remaining  with 
her  husband.  While  confined  here,  Mr.  Emmet  applied 
to  Rufus  King,  the  United  States  Minister  in  London,  for 
permission  to  emigrate  to  this  country,  which  was  sneering- 
ly  refused.  On  the  accession  of  Mr.  Jefferson  to  the  Pres- 
idency, in  1801,  his  application  was  more  successful ;  and 
in  1804,  after  spending  two  years  on  the  continent,  during 
which  he  had  an  interview  with  Napoleon  at  Paris,  he 
sailed  for  New  York,  where  he  found  a  hospitable  home, 
and  built  up  for  himself  both  fortune  and  renown. 


69 

His  style  of  pleading  is  well  described  by  Charles 
Gliddon  Haines,  of  New  Hampshire — himself  an  eminent 
lawyer — in  a  neat  biographical  sketch  of  Mr.  Emmet. 

"  Helvetius  remarks,"  says  Haines,  "  that  the  sun  of  glory 
only  shines  upon  the  tomb  of  greatness.  His  observation 
is  too  often  true ;  but  facts  and  living  proofs  sometimes  con- 
tradict it.  Mr.  Emmet  walks  on  in  life,  amid  the  eulo- 
giums,  the  admiration,  and  the  enthusiastic  regard  of  a 
great  and  enlightened  community.  Without  the  glare  and 
influence  of  public  office,  without  titles  and  dignities,  who 
fills  a  wider  space,  who  commands  more  respect,  than 
Thomas  Addis  Emmet  ?  Like  a  noble  and  simple  column, 
he  stands  among  us  proudly  pre-eminent — destitute  of  pre- 
tensions, destitute  of  vanity,  and  destitute  of  envy.  In  a 
letter  which  I  recently  received  from  a  friend,  who  resides 
in  the  western  part  of  the  Union,  a  lawyer  of  eminence,  he 
speaks  of  the  New  York  bar.  '  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,' 
says  he,  '  is  the  great  luminary  whose  light  even  crosses 
the  western  mountains.  His  name  rings  down  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  we  hail  his  efforts  with  a  kind  of 
local  pride.' 

"  If  to  draw  the  character  of  Homer  needs  the  genius  of 
the  immortal  bard  himself;  if  to  portray  the  powers  of 
Demosthenes  requires  the  gigantic  intellect  of  the  great 
Athenian  orator,  Mr.  Emmet  has  nothing  to  expect  from 
me.  In  presenting  the  features  of  his  mind,  I  shall  describe 
them  from  the  impressions  they  make  on  me.  I  paint  from 
the  original.  I  catch  the  lineaments  of  the  subject  as  living 
nature  presents  them. 

"  The  mind  of  Thomas  Addis  Emmet  is  of  the  highest 
order.  His  penetration  is  deep,  his  views  comprehensive, 
his  distinctions  remarkably  nice.  His  powers  of  investiga- 
tion are  vigorous  and  irresistible.  If  there  be  anything  in 
a  subject,  he  will  go  to  the  bottom.  He  probes  boldly, 
reaches  the  lowest  depths  by  his  researches,  analyzes  every- 
thing, and  embraces  the  whole  ground.  He  may  be  said  to 
have  a  mind  well  adapted  to  profound  and  powerful  inves- 
tigation. In  the  next  place,  he  has  great  comprehension. 
He  sees  a  subject  in  all  its  bearings  and  relations.  He 
traces  out  all  its  various  operations.  He  begins  at  the  cen- 
tre and  diverges,  until  it  becomes  necessary  again  to  return 
to  the  centre.  As  a  reasoner — a  bare,  strict  reasoner,  Mr. 
Emmet  would  always  be  placed  in  an  elevated  rank.     No 


matter  how  dry,  how  difficult,  how  repulsive  the  topic ;  no 

matter  what  may  be  its  intricacies  and  perplexities,  if  any 

man  can  unfold  and  amplify  it,  he  is  equal  to  the  task. 
i)^  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^ 

"  I  have  spoken  of  his  talent  for  deep  and  rigid  investi- 
gation. I  will  now  again  recur  to  another  feature  of  his 
mind — his  talent  for  reasoning  on  whatever  data  or  premises 
he  relies  on.  All  the  illustrations  and  all  the  analogies 
which  can  well  occur  to  the  mind,  are  readily  and  adroitly 
arranged  in  his  arguments.  He  makes  the  most  of  his 
cause,  and  often  makes  too  much — giving  a  front  that  is  so 
palpably  over-formidable,  that  men  of  the  plainest  sense 
perceive  the  fruits  of  a  T)owerful  mind,  without  being  at  all 
convinced." 

Thus  spoke  an  American  of  his  mind ;  hear  now  an 
Irishman,  on  the  qualities  of  his  heart : — 

"  In  men  who  are  '  fit  for  treasons,  stratagems  and  broils,* 
the  passions  and  mental  qualities  we  expect  to  find  are 
ambition,  vanity,  malignity,  restlessness,  or  recklessness  of 
mind.  Were  these  the  characteristics  of  T.  A.  Emmet  ? 
The  question,  with  perfect  safety  to  the  memory  of  Emmet, 
might  be  put  to  any  surviving  political  opponent  of  his  of 
common  honesty,  who  was  acquainted  with  those  times,  and 
the  men  who  were  prominent  actors  in  them.  Emmet's 
ambition  was  to  see  his  country  well  governed,  and  its 
people  treated  like  human  beings,  destined  and  capacitated 
for  the  enjoyment  of  civil  and  religious  freedom.  For  him- 
self he  sought  no  pre-eminence,  no  popular  applause  ;  he 
shrunk  from  observation  where  his  merits,  in  spite  of  his 
retiring  habits,  forced  them  into  notice.  No  man  could  say 
that  Emmet  was  ambitious. 

"  Emmet's  vanity  was  of  a  peculiar  kind ;  he  was  vain 
of  nothing  but  his  name  ;  it  was  associated  with  the  brightest 
of  the  by-gone  hopes  of  Irish  genius,  and  with  the  fairest 
promises  of  the  revival  of  the  latter  in  the  dawning  powers 
of  a  singularly  gifted  brother.  No  man  could  say  with 
truth  that  vanity  or  selfishness  was  the  mental  infirmity  of 
Emmet. 

"  No  malignant  act  was  ever  imputed  to  him.  The 
natural  kindness  of  his  disposition  was  manifested  in  his 
looks,  in  his  tone  of  voice  ;  those  who  came  in  contact  with 
him  felt  that  his  benig^nity  of  disposition,  his  purity  of  heart 


71 

and  mind  were  such,  '  and  the  elements  so  mixed  in  him, 
that  nature  might  stand  up  and  say  to  all  the  world,  this 
was  a  man.'  Malignity  and  Emmet  were  as  dissimilar  in 
nature  as  in  name."^ 

Such  is  a  brief  sketch  of  the  man  who  was  the  most 
dreaded  of  the  insurgents  of  '98,  and  one  of  the  most  sin- 
cere of  emancipationists.  A  rigid  Protestant,  he  exemplified 
in  his  own  conduct  that  freedom  from  prejudice,  yet  firmness 
of  faith,  which  he  long  hoped  to  see  established  as  a  na- 
tional characteristic  of  Ireland,  but  which,  unhappily,  he 
did  not  live  to  see  effected. 

In  all  struggles  against  tyranny,  it  is  reasonable  that  those 
who  would  be  free  look  to  the  free  for  sympathy  or  encour- 
agement. In  this  case,  they  were  not  deceived.  The  Irish 
emigrant,  toiling  in  the  forests  of  Illinois  and  Michigan, 
was  startled  at  the  awakening  cry  of  his  country ;  he  flung 
down  the  axe,  and  thrusting  his  hand  into  his  scanty 
strong-box,  gave  a  hearty  cheer  and  his  mite,  with  an  in- 
difference to  the  amount,  which  would  do  honor  to  a  mil- 
lio7iaire.  His  brethren  in  the  city  were  not  idle;  and 
month  after  month,  for  five  consecutive  years,  the  claims 
of  Ireland  to  religious  liberty  were  echoed  from  one  frontier 
of  the  confederacy  to  the  other.  This  was  a  new  source 
of  strength  to  the  friends  of  emancipation,  and  of  terror  to 
their  foes.  It  is  a  point  on  which  we  fain  would  dwell,  if 
not  reminded  by  the  title  that  we  must  economize  space. 
The  names  of  those  now  departed,  who  were  then  amongst 
the  foremost  in  the  fight,  are  hedged  in  with  such  honor  as 
shields  them  from  the  ingratitude  of  flippancy.  We  would 
not  leap  over  their  tombs  for  a  king's  ransom.  The  names 
of  those  who  survive,  are  scarcely  the  legitimate  property 
of  a  biographer ;  nor  is  it  any  slight  to  their  services  that 
their  merits  shall  be  left  to  repose  in  the  memory  of  their 
beneficiaries,  until  they  are  gathered  to  the  sleep  of  peace. 
The  emigrant  was  found  faithful,  in  spite  of  distance  and 
disappointment.  The  call  of  every  appealing  land  had 
been  answered  by  some  portion  or  other  of  the  population 
of  the  free  new  world;  and  it  remained  for  those  who 
owed  to  Ireland  the  debt  of  descent,  and  were  attracted 
towards  her  by  the  generous  warmth  of  kindred  blood,  to 
transmit  to  her   a  share   of   those  blessings  and  benefits 

*  Madjkn'f  Life  of  T.  A.  Emmet. 


72 

which  freedom  had  placed  in  their  own  hands.  They 
became  liberty's  almoners  to  their  own  country,  as  other 
classes  of  citizens  have  been  to  Poland,  Greece,  and  South 
America. 

Nor  was  the  foreign  assistance  which  so  materially  bene- 
fited Ireland,  exclusively  from  the  western  world.  In  the 
farther  Indies,  the  spirit  of  O'Connell  stalked  abroad,  and 
many  munificent  contributions  were  the  result  of  its  ap- 
pearance."^ 

France,  the  hereditary  friend  of  Ireland,  gave  also  from 
her  treasuries  large  sums  of  money,  ardent  exhortations, 
and  promises,  faithfully  observed,  of  continued  co-operation. 
She  had  before  given  station  to  Irish  soldiers,  and  learning 
to  Irish  scholars ;  it  only  remained  to  complete  the  debt  of 
international  benefaction,  that  she  should  have  aided  in 
giving  her  freedom  also. 

Germany,  the  native  land  of  Lutheranism,  sent  to  the 
Catholic  millions,  from  many  of  her  states,  the  most  cordial 
and  cheering  assurances  of  interest,  with  the  more  tangible 
encouragement  of  the  purse. 

The  British  dependencies  in  every  latitude,  felt,  more  or 
less  remotely,  the  influence  of  this  wonderful  association. 
Its  tracts  were  imported  to  Canada — perused  in  the  Austra- 
lian wilderness,  and  upon  the  shores  of  far  New  Zealand. 
Its  debates  were  asked  after,  on  every  arrival,  by  the  rulers 
and  the  ruled  ;  and  not  unfrequently,  an  animating  voice 
was  heard  from  the  most  distant  colonies  of  the  empire. 
Canada,  and  the  North  American  provinces  generally,  were 
honorably  conspicuous  for  their  friendship.  Thus,  in  God's 
inscrutable  providence,  were  the  foes  of  British  tyranny 
raised  up  in  every  section  of  the  British  empire,  until,  at 
last,  the  accumulation  of  their  execrations  forced  even  the 
tory  chief  of  Waterloo  to  tremble,  and  finally  to  yield. 

Such  were  the  workings  of  Catholic  agitation  abroad, 
during  1S24,  and  the  five  succeeding  years.  Let  us  now 
return  to  the  records  of  the  Association. 

The  Association  having  once  fairly  raised  its  head,  Mr. 
O'Connell  devoted  all  his  attention  to  render  it  thoroughly 
operative.  For  this  end,  he  contrived  that  no  class  should 
preponderate  in  its  councils — that  the  nobles,  the  clergy, 
and  the  people,  should  have  as  nearly  as  possible,  an  equal 

*  Amongst  others,  one  of  £3000  from  British  India. 


73 

control  over  it,  equal  interests,  and  equal  honors.  Thus 
also  he  continued  to  remind  the  latter,  that  emancipation  was 
but  the  precursor  of  many  other  struggles  and  victories — of 
associations  to  procure  the  abolition  of  tithes,  the  repeal  of 
the  Union,  and  other  dear  but  distant  schemes  of  the  popu- 
lar ambition.  This  tended  to  make  the  people  jealously- 
watchful  of  the  Association — to  keep  their  gaze  riveted 
perpetually  upon  it,  not  only  as  the  engine  which  was  to 
batter  down  the  ministerial  bolts  and  bars  upon  their  church 
doors,  but  as  the  precursor  of  many  important  advantages. 
The  clergy  also  exercised  a  legitimate  influence  on  the 
question  ;  and  if  there  was  weakness  anywhere,  it  was 
where  a  reforming  body  can  best  afford  to  have  it — in  its 
aristocratic  members.  The  harmony  thus  engrafted  on  the 
growth  of  the  Association,  never  once  declined ;  there  were 
many  discussions,  but  no  bitter  retorts  ;  many  things  were 
proposed,  and  afterwards  rejected,  but  no  member  of  conse- 
quence retired  in  dudgeon,  or  remained  to  make  reprisals. 
The  various  committees  were  found  enthusiastic  in  their 
labors  ;  the  delegates  labored  with  heart  and  unanimity,  and 
a  glorious  brotherhood  existed  between  all  the  organs  of  the 
Catholics.  Through  all  these  pleasing  scenes,  it  was  cheer- 
ing to  mark  how  generously  the  great  leader  gave  from  the 
abundance  of  his  own  laurels,  to  his  chief  assistants — to 
Shiel,  Doyle,  Lawless,  Moore,  and  the  other  great  lights  of 
the  agitation. 

In  1S25,  the  Association  had  reached  a  strength  perfectly 
irresistible,  in  consequence  of  O'Connell's  management ; 
asigregate  meetings  were  held  all  over  the  country,  and  the 
spirit  of  Ireland  was  transmitted  through  the  deputies,  Shiel, 
Bric,^   and  O'Connell,  to  the  Catholics  and  the  people  of 

*  This  gentleman,  by  profession  a  barrister,  was  snatched  from 
society  by  the  bloody  and  barbarous  practice  of  duelling,  in  the  very 
dawn  of  his  usefulness.  He  was  a  young  man  of  extraordinary 
eloquence,  one  of  the  school  of  '82  ;  and  had  he  been  longer  spared, 
would  unquestionably  have  left  behind  a  reputation  inferior  to  no 
orator  of  the  age,  for  grandeur  of  imagery  and  perfectness  of  style. 
He  had  been  called  ta  the  bar  in  1824,  and  commenced  at  the  same 
time  law  and  politics.  In  the  very  iirst  term  of  his  legal  career,  he 
was  retained  by  the  Catholic  Association  on  an  important  prosecution 
instigated  by  the  Association  against  Browne,  a  chief  constable  of 
police  in  the  county  of  Wexford.  In  1825,  he  was  again  the  advo- 
cate of  the  Association,  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  Killishandra,  ia 
the  county  of  Cavan,  recently  the  scene  of  a  desperate  party  affray. 

7 


74 

England.  Amongst  these  English  demonstrations,  one 
deserves  to  be  particularly  noticed;  not,  indeed,  from  the 
importance  of  the  parties  assembled,  but  from  a  very  witty 
and  really  valuable  speech  delivered  on  that  occasion  by  the 
Rev.  Sidney  Smith.^  The  meeting  was  composed  of  the 
clergy  of  the  Archdeaconry  of  the  East-Riding  of  York- 
shire, held  at  the  Tiger  inn,  at  Beverley,  within  which  lay 
Mr.  Smith's  rectory  of  Londesborough ;  and  its  intent  was 
to  petition  against  Catholic  emancipation.  In  opposing  the 
object  of  the  meeting,  he  commenced  by  saying  : — 

"  Mr.  Archdeacon, — It  is  very  disagreeable  to  me  to 
differ  from  so  many  worthy  and  respectable  clergymen  here 
assembled,  and  not  only  to  differ  from  them,  but  (I  am 
afraid)  to  stand  alone  among  them.  I  would  much  rather 
vote  in  majorities,  and  join  in  this,  or  any  other  political 

"Saint  Farnham"  sat  among  the  judges  ;  and  yet  the  judgment  and 
justness  of  ihe  advocate  carried  his  cause,  with  an  Orange  jury  and 
a  most  one-sided  bench.    The  next  period  in  Connsellor  Brio's  career 
was  his  celebrated  effort,  in  conjunction  with  Messrs.  O'Connell  and 
Shiel,  against  the  ''Biblicals"  in  the  city  of  Cork.     He  was  not  the 
least  eminent  of  the  famous  English  deputation,  and  it  was  not  unde- 
servedly that  his  "  brothers-in-arms"  gave  to  him,  on  their  return,  the 
palm  of  excellence,  humbling  themselves  to  their  companion.     On 
the  controversy  of  the  "  wings"  proposed  to  be  attached  to  the  eman- 
cipation bill,  in  the  shape  of  pensions  for  the  clergy,  and  the  abolition 
of  the  forty-shilling  freeholders,  when  O'Connell  was  most  ferociously 
attacked  by  William  Cobbett,  and  that  attack  was  welcomed  by  Cob- 
bett's  friends  in  Ireland,  Mr.  Brie  stood  fast  by  his  friend  and  country. 
A  meeting  was  held  in  the  city  of  Cork,  in  which  Mr.  Richard 
Ronayne  defended  Cobbett's  scurrility,  and  charged  Mr  O'Connell 
with  many  grave  errors,  and  even  wilful  faults.     Mr.  Brie  rose  in 
reply,  and  delivered  a  masterly  oration.     Gallantly  he  grappled  with 
the  allegations  of  his  antagonist ;   and  firmer  than  ev^r  before,  he 
established  the  name  and  the  services  of  O'Connell  in  the  generous 
hearts  of  the  West.     The  speech  was  read  in  England  with  the 
warmest  sensations  of  applause,  but  Cobbett  could  never  forgive  its 
author.     In  his  Register,  Mr.  Brie  was  abused  as  the  vilest  of  men 
— as  "  a  ball  of  new-dropped  horse-dung,"  "  the  son  of  a  pauper," 
and  every  other  epithet  which  malice  and  coarseness  could  invent. 
But  Mr.  Brie  outlived  Cobbett's  malice,  to  fall  a  victim  to  a   less 
deadly,  though  less  erring,  intention.     In  1827,  during  an  exciting 
election,  he  became  embroiled  with  a  gentleman  of  Cork,  which  led 
to  a  duel  between  them,  terminating  fatally,  as  we  have  before  said, 
to  this  eminent  Irishman. 

*  This  gentleman,  also,  rendered  vast  service  to  the  cause  of  eman- 
cipation by  his  inimitable  letters,  over  the  signature  of  Peter  Plimley. 
Indeed,  he  has  been  the  fast  friend  of  muny  a  good  cause. 


75 

chorus,  than  to  stand  unassisted  and  alone,  as  I  am  now 
doing.  I  dislike  such  meetings  for  such  purposes  ;  I  wish 
I  could  reconcile  it  to  my  conscience  to  stay  away  from 
them,  and  to  my  temperament  to  be  silent  at  them ;  but  if 
they  are  called  by  others,  I  deem  it  right  to  attend — if  I 
attend,  I  must  say  what  I  think.  If  it  is  unwise  in  us  to 
meet  in  taverns  to  discuss  political  subjects,  the  fault  is  not 
mine,  for  I  should  never  think  of  calling  such  a  meeting. 
If  the  subject  is  trite  which  we  are  to  discuss,  no  blame  is 
imputable  to  me ;  it  is  as  dull  to  me  to  handle  such  subjects 
as  it  is  to  you  to  hear  them.  The  customary  promise  on 
the  threshold  of  an  inn,  is  good  entertainment  for  man  and 
horse.  If  there  is  any  truth  in  any  part  of  this  sentence  at 
the  Tiger,  at  Beverley,  our  horses  at  this  moment  must  cer- 
tainly be  in  a  state  of  much  greater  enjoyment  than  the 
masters  who  rode  them.  It  will  be  some  amusement,  how- 
ever, to  this  meeting,  to  observe  the  schism  which  this  ques- 
tion has  occasioned  in  my  own  parish  of  Londesborough. 
My  excellent  and  respectable  curate,  Mr.  Milestones,  alarm- 
ed at  the  effect  of  the  Pope  upon  the  East-Riding,  has  come 
here  to  oppose  me  ;  and  there  he  stands,  breathing  war  and 
vengeance  on  the  Vatican.  We  had  some  previous  conver- 
sation on  this  subject,  and  in  imitation  of  our  superiors,  we 
agreed  not  to  make  it  a  cabinet  question.  Mr.  Milestones, 
indeed,  with  that  delicacy  and  propriety  which  belongs  to 
his  character,  expressed  some  scruples  upon  the  propriety 
of  voting  against  his  rector ;  but  I  insisted  he  should  come 
and  vote  against  me.  I  assured  him  nothing  w^ould  give 
me  more  pain  than  to  think  I  had  prevented,  in  any  man, 
the  free  assertion  of  honest  opinions — that  such  conduct  on 
his  part,  instead  of  causing  jealousy  and  animosity  between 
us,  could  not,  and  would  not  fail  to  increase  my  regard  and 
respect  for  him." 

In  conclusion,  he  assumed  a  more  serious  tone  : — 

"  I  have  also,  sir,  a  high  spirited  class  of  gentlemen  to 
deal  with,  who  will  do  nothing  from  fear — who  admit  the 
danger,  but  think  it  disgraceful  to  act  as  if  they  feared  it. 
There  is  a  degree  of  fear,  which  destroys  a  man's  faculties, 
renders  him  incapable  of  acting,  and  makes  him  ridiculous. 
There  is  another  sort  of  fear,  which  enables  a  man  to  fore- 
see a  coming  evil,  to  measure  it,  to  examine  his  powers  of 
resistance,  to  balance  the  evil  of  submission  against  the 


76 

evils  of  opposition  or  defeat ;  and  if  he  thinks  he  must  be 
uhimately  overpowered,  leads  him  to  find  a  good  escape  in 
a  good  time.  I  can  see  no  possible  disgrace  in  feeling  this 
sort  of  fear,  and  in  listening  to  its  suggestions.  But  it  is 
mere  cant  to  say  that  men  will  not  be  actuated  by  fear  in 
such  questions  as  these.  Those  who  pretend  not  to  fear 
now,  would  be  the  first  to  fear  upon  the  approach  of  danger ; 
it  is  always  the  case  with  this  distant  valor.  Most  of  the 
concessions  which  have  been  given  to  the  Irish,  have  been 
given  to  fear.  Ireland  would  have  been  lost  to  this  country 
if  the  British  legislature  had  not,  with  all  the  rapidity  and 
precipitation  of  the  truest  panic,  passed  those  acts  which 
Ireland  did  not  ask,  but  demanded  in  the  time  of  her  armed 
association.  I  should  not  think  a  man  brave,  but  mad, 
who  did  not  fear  the  treasons  and  rebellions  of  Ireland  in 
time  of  war.  I  should  think  him  not  dastardly,  but  con- 
summately wise,  who  provided  against  them  in  time  of 
peace.  The  Catholic  question  has  made  a  greater  progress 
since  the  opening  of  this  Parliament,  than  I  ever  remember 
it  to  have  made ;  and  it  has  made  that  progress  from  fear 
alone.  The  House  of  Commons  were  astonished  by  the 
union  of  the  Irish  Catholics.  They  saw  that  Catholic 
Ireland  had  discovered  her  strength,  and  stretched  out  her 
limbs,  and  felt  manly  powers,  and  called  for  manly  treat- 
ment ;  and  the  House  of  Commons  wisely  and  practically 
yielded  to  the  innovations  of  time,  and  the  shifting  attitude 
of  human  affairs. 

"  I  admit  the  Church,  sir,  to  be  in  great  danger.  I  am 
sure  the  State  is  also.  My  remedy  for  these  evils  is,  to 
enter  into  an  alliance  with  the  Irish  people — to  conciliate 
the  clergy,  by  giving  them  pensions — to  loyalize  the  laity, 
by  putting  them  on  a  footing  with  the  Protestant.  My 
remedy  is  the  old  one,  approved  of  from  the  beginning  of 
the  world,  to  lessen  dangers  by  increasing  friends  and  ap- 
peasing enemies.  I  think  it  most  probable  that  under  this 
system  of  crown  patronage,  the  clergy  will  be  quiet.  A 
Catholic  layman,  who  finds  all  the  honors  of  the  state  open 
to  him,  will  not,  I  think,  run  into  treason  and  rebellion — 
will  not  live  with  a  rope  about  his  neck,  in  order  to  turn 
our  bishops  out,  and  put  his  own  in  ;  he  may  not,  too,  be 
of  opinion  that  the  utility  of  his  bishop  will  be  four  times 
as  great,  because  his  income  is  four  times  as  large ;  but 
whether  he  is  or  not,  will  never  endanger  his  sweet  acres 


77 

(large  measure)  for  such  questions  as  these.  Anti-Trinita- 
rian dissenters  sit  in  the  House  of  Commons,  whom  we 
believe  to  be  condemned  to  the  punishments  of  another 
world.  There  is  no  limit  to  the  introduction  of  dissenters 
into  both  Houses — dissenting  Lords  or  dissenting  Commons. 
What  mischief  have  dissenters,  for  the  last  century  and  a 
half,  plotted  against  the  Church  of  England  !  The  Catholic 
lord  and  the  Catholic  gentleman  (restored  to  their  fair 
rights)  will  never  join  with  levellers  and  iconoclasts.  You 
will  find  them  defending  you  hereafter,  against  your  Protes- 
tant enemies.  The  crozier  in  any  hand,  the  mitre  on  any 
head,  are  more  tolerable  in  the  eyes  of  a  Catholic,  than 
doxological  Barebones  and  tonsured  Cromwells. 

"  We  preach  to  our  congregations,  sir,  that  a  tree  is 
known  by  its  fruits.  By  the  fruits  it  produces,  I  will  judge 
your  system.  What  has  it  done  for  Ireland  ?  New  Zealand 
is  emerging — Otaheite  is  emerging — Ireland  is  not  emerg- 
ing ;  she  is  still  veiled  in  darkness  ;  her  children,  safe  under 
no  law,  live  in  the  very  shadow  of  death.  Has  your  sys- 
tem of  exclusion  made  Ireland  rich  ?  Has  it  made  Ireland 
loyal  ?  Has  it  made  Ireland  free  ?  Has  it  made  Ireland 
happy  ?  How  is  the  wealth  of  Ireland  proved  ?  Is  it  by 
the  naked,  idle,  suffering  savages,  who  are  slumbering  on 
the  mud  floors  of  their  cabins  ?  In  what  does  the  loyalty  of 
Ireland  consist  ?  Is  it  in  the  eagerness  with  which  they 
would  range  themselves  under  the  hostile  banner  of  any 
invader,  for  your  destruction  and  for  your  distress  ?  Is  it 
liberty  when  men  breathe  and  move  among  the  bayonets  of 
English  soldiers  ?  Is  their  happiness  and  their  history  any- 
thing but  such  a  tissue  of  murders,  burnings,  hanging,  famine 
and  disease,  as  never  existed  in  the  annals  of  the  world  ? 
This  is  the  system,  which,  I  am  sure,  with  very  different 
intentions,  and  different  views  of  its  effects,  you  are  met  to 
uphold.  These  are  the  dreadful  consequences,  which  those 
laws  your  petition  prays  may  be  continued,  have  produced 
upon  Ireland.  From  the  principles  of  that  system,  from  the 
cruelty  of  those  laws,  I  turn,  and  turn  with  the  homage  of 
my  whole  heart  to  that  memorable  proclamation  which  the 
Head  of  our  Church,  the  present  monarch  of  these  realms, 
has  lately  made  to  his  hereditary  dominions  of  Hanover — • 
that  no  man  should  he  subjected  to  civil  incapacities  on  ac- 
count of  religious  opinions.     Sir,  there  have  been  many 

memorable  things  done  in  this  reign.     Hostile  armies  have 
7# 


78 

been  destroyed ;  fleets  have  been  captured ;  formidable 
combinations  have  been  broli:en  to  pieces — but  this  senti' 
ment  in  the  mouth  of  a  Jiing^  deserves  more  than  all  glories 
and  victories,  the  notice  of  that  historian  who  is  destined  to 
tell  to  future  ages  the  deeds  of  the  English  people.  I  hope 
he  will  lavish  upon  it  every  gem  which  glitters  in  the  cabi- 
net of  genius,  and  so  uphold  it  to  the  world  that  it  will  be 
remembered  when  Waterloo  is  forgotten,  and  when  the  fall 
of  Paris  is  blotted  out  from  the  memory  of  man.  Great  as 
it  is,  sir,  this  is  not  the  only  pleasure  I  have  received  in 
these  latter  days.  I  have  seen  within  these  few  weeks,  a 
degree  of  wisdom  in  our  mercantile  law,  such  superiority 
to  vulgar  prejudice,  views  so  just  and  so  profound,  that  it 
seemed  to  me  as  if  I  was  reading  the  works  of  a  speculative 
economist,  rather  than  the  improvement  of  a  practical  poli- 
tician, agreed  to  by  a  legislative  assembly,  and  upon  the 
eve  of  being  carried  into  execution,  for  the  benefit  of  a  great 
people.  Let  who  will  be  their  master,  I  honor  and  praise 
the  ministers  who  have  learned  such  a  lesson.  I  rejoice 
that  I  have  lived  to  see  such  an  improvement  in  English 
affairs — that  the  stubborn  resistance  to  all  improvement,  the 
contempt  of  all  scientific  reasoning,  and  the  rigid  adhesion 
to  every  stupid  error,  which  so  long  characterized  the  pro- 
ceedings of  this  country,  is  fast  giving  way  to  better  things, 
under  better  men,  placed  in  better  circumstances. 

"  I  confess  it  is  not  without  severe  pain  that,  in  the  midst 
of  all  this  expansion  and  improvement,  I  perceive  that  in 
our  profession  we  are  still  calling  for  the  same  exclusion — 
still  asking  that  the  same  fetters  may  be  riveted  on  our 
fellow-creatures — still  mistaking  what  constitutes  the  weak- 
ness and  misfortune  of  the  church,  for  that  which  contri- 
butes to  its  glory,  its  dignity,  and  its  strength.  Sir,  there 
are  two  petitions  at  this  moment  in  this  house,  against  two 
of  the  wisest  and  best  measures  which  ever  came  into  the 
British  Parliament,  against  the  impending  corn-law,  and 
against  the  Catholic  emancipation — the  one  bill  intended  to 
increase  the  comforts,  and  the  other  to  allay  the  bad  pas- 
sions of  men.  Sir,  I  am  not  in  a  situation  of  life  to  do 
much  good,  but  I  will  take  care  that  I  will  not  willingly  do 
any  evil.  The  wealth  of  the  Riding  should  not  tempt  me 
to  petition  against  either  of  those  bills.  With  the  corn  bill 
I  have  nothing  to  do  at  this  time.  Of  the  Catholic  eman- 
cipation bill,  I  shall  say,  that  it  will  be  the  foundation-stone 


79 

of  a  lasting  religious  peace — that  it  will  give  to  Ireland  not 
all  that  it  wants,  but  what  it  most  wants,  and  without  which 
no  other  boon  will  be  of  any  avail. 

"  When  this  bill  passes,  it  will  be  a  signal  to  all  the  reli- 
gious sects  of  that  unhappy  country  to  lay  aside  their  mu- 
tual hatred,  and  to  live  in  peace,  as  equal  men  should  live 
under  equal  law ;  when  this  bill  passes,  the  Orange  flag 
will  fall;  when  this  bill  passes,  the  Green  flag  of  the  rebel 
will  fall ;  when  this  bill  passes,  no  other  flag  will  fly  in  the 
land  of  Erin,  than  that  flag  which  blends  the  Lion  with 
the  Harp — that  flag  which,  wherever  it  does  fly,  is  the  sign 
of  freedom  and  of  joy — the  only  banner  in  Europe,  which 
floats  over  a  limited  king  and  a  free  people." 

About  the  same  time,  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Norwich,  in 
his  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords,  delivered  a  very  hearty 
speech  on  behalf  of  the  Catholics,  the  peroration  of  which 
ran  thus  : — 

"  I  have  to  detain  your  lordships  only  a  few  minutes 
more.  If  it  could  be  proved — but  I  think  it  never  will — 
that  the  worldly  advantage  of  any  particular  ecclesiastical 
establishment  of  Christianity  cannot  be  maintained  without 
an  obvious  violation,  on  the  part  of  its  members,  of  the 
leading  principles  of  the  Christian  religion ;  such,  for 
instance,  as  that  most  excellent  precept,  to  '  do  unto  others, 
in  all  cases,  as  we  would  they  should  do  unto  us,'  and  that 
'  new  comrriandment,  to  love  one  another ' — new,  both  in 
degree  and  in  extent,  which  our  Divine  Master  bequeathed 
to  his  followers,  as  his  last  and  best  legacy;  if,  I  say,  even 
the  Church  of  England  cannot  stand,  unless  its  members  be 
called  upon  to  act  in  direct  opposition  to  those  distinguished 
precepts  of  our  holy  religion,  I,  for  one,  should  say,  without 
the  smallest  hesitation,  let  it  fall ;  for,  my  lords,  it  must 
never  be  forgotten,  that  an  ecclesiastical  establishment  is  no 
part  of  Christianity,  but  the  mode  only  of  propagating  its 
doctrines  ;  as  has  been  accurately  and  justly  remarked  by 
Archdeacon  Paley.  It  seems,  then,  to  follow,  as  a  legiti- 
mate consequence,  that  the  outward  building,  the  mere  fabric 
of  the  temple,  would  hardly  be  worth  preserving,  if  that 
charity,  which  is  the  guardian  angel  of  the  inner  temple, 
had  taken  its  flight,  and  '  the  glory  was  departed.' 

"  I  shall,  perhaps,  be  asked — indeed,  I  have  been  asked 
more  than  once — if  I  feel  prepared  to  abide  by  the  result  of 


80 

my  opinions;  a  result  which,  in  tne  judgment  of  some, 
must  be  attended  with  the  entire  loss  of  those  pecuniary 
advantages,  and  of  the  honor  of  a  seat  in  this  House,  which 
I  derive  from  my  present  situation  in  the  Established 
Church  ?  To  my  present  situation  in  the  Established 
Church  ?  To  this  question,  my  lords,  my  answer  is  verj 
short  and  very  sincere.  Worldly  advantages,  of  whatevei 
description,  which  can  only  be  secured  by  the  oppression 
of  five  millions  of  loyal  fellow-subjects,  and  conscientious 
fellow-Christians,  have  no  charms  for  me  ;  they  are  poor 
and  valueless  ;  I  do  not  wish  to  hold  them  by  so  bad  a 
tenure ;  on  the  contrary,  I  would  gladly  relinquish  them 
to-morrow,  and  'eat  my  bread  in  peace  and  privacy,'  if, 
by  so  doing,  the  cause  which  I  have  at  heart  could  be 
effectually  promoted. 

"  These,  my  lords,  are  my  genuine  sentiments ;  they 
have  been  the  same  for  more  than  half  a  century,  and  I  am 
now  much  too  old  to  change  them.  I  dare  not,  however, 
rashly  say,  as  has  been  said,  that  whatever  alteration  of  cir- 
cumstances may  occur  in  this  ever-shifting  scene  of  human 
life,  these  sentiments  will  remain  unaltered ;  but  I  will  say, 
that  reflecting  seriously  upon  what  has  passed,  and  is  still 
passing  before  my  eyes,  there  is  very  little  probability  of 
my  thinking  differently  from  what  I  now  do. 

"  With  respect  to  the  political  part  of  the  subject  now 
under  your  lordships'  consideration,  it  is  not  in  my  prov- 
ince ;  and  if  it  were,  I  should  be  unwilling  to  Aveary  your 
lordships'  attention  by  a  repetition  of  those  unanswered 
and  unanswerable  arguments  which  have  been  so  often 
urged  in  behalf  of  the  Catholics,  by  many  of  the  best  and 
wisest  men  of  the  age  in  which  we  live ;  I  must,  notwith- 
standing, venture  to  observe,  that  your  lordships  have,  once 
more,  an  opportunity  of  doing  tardy  justice  to  a  large  por- 
tion of  his  Majesty's  subjects, — an  opportunity  which,  if 
neglected,  is  likely  to  be  followed,  and  at  no  very  distant 
period,  by  events  which  neither  the  wisdom  nor  the  power 
of  government  may  be  able  to  control." 

We  have  copied  these  sentiments  of  two  Protestant  eccle- 
siastics, as  a  delightful  evidence  of  the  consoling  truth,  that 
in  all  religions,  there  are  true  Christians — even  in  the 
church  of  a  state.  Because,  also,  they  are  rare  evidences 
of  a  spirit,  a  little  of  which  would  not  be  thrown  away  upon 
certain  divines  of  other  countries,  more  especially  of  this. 


81 

But  our  readers  must  not  suppose  that  the  path  of  eman- 
cipation was,  by  any  means,  a  thornless  one.  There  is  not, 
in  the  history  of  government,  a  precedent  for  the  determined 
hostility  with  which  the  ministers  regarded  emancipation. 
The  "  great  captain  "  of  Waterloo,  and  his  worthy  croupier 
of  Tamworth,  solemnly  and  repeatedly,  and  in  the  face  of 
the  nation,  declared  they  never  would  sanction  its  princi- 
ples becoming  a  law.  But  the  Duke  of  York,  the  profli- 
gate and  spendthrift  Duke  of  York,  who  had  neither  faith 
nor  conscience  of  his  own,  who  regarded  no  creed,  and  rev- 
erenced no  altar,  although  a  bishop  and  a  Brunswick,  made 
even  a  more  solemn  declaration  than  theirs ;  for,  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  he  blasphemously  swore,  that — "  so  help 
him  God,  in  every  situation  he  would  uphold  the  principles 
of  hostility  to  Catholics,  in  which  he  had  been  brought 
yp_"#  This  expression  coming  from  the  heir  presumptive 
to  the  throne,  was  justly  regarded  as  a  great  strength  to  the 
enemies  of  emancipation,  but  the  Duke  was  soon  called 
from  the  "  situation"  in  which  he  then  stood,  to  answer  be- 
fore the  great  tribunal  of  all  mankind,  for  his  excesses,  his 
bigotry,  and  his  rash  swearing. 

The  Catholics  of  England  felt  the  influence  of  the  Asso- 

*  A  metrical  travestie  of  this  '-speech  presumptive,"  appeared  in 
one  of  the  London  morning  papers,  and  has  been  invariably  ascribed 
to  the  pen  of  Moore.  The  following  is  a  sample  of  this  amusing 
satire : — 

"  Though  Mr.  Leslie  Foster  winced, 

From  what  he  once  asserted ; 
Though  Mr.  Brownlow  is  convinced, 

And  Mr.  North  converted ; 
Though  even  country  gentlemen 

Are  sick  of  half  their  maggots, 
And  rustics  mock  the  vicar,  when 

He  prates  of  fiery  fagots  ; 
Though  Hume  and  Brougham  and  twenty  more, 

Are  swaggering  and  swearing. 
And  Scarlett  hopes  the  scarlet  whore 

"Will  not  be  found  past  bearing ; 
Though  Reverend  Norwich  does  not  mind 

The  feuds  of  two  and  seven, 
And  trusts  that  humble  prayers  may  find 

A  dozen  roads  to  heaven ; — 
Till  royal  heads  are  lit  with  gas, 

Till  Hebrews  dine  on  pork, — 
My  lords,  this  bill  shall  never  pass  j 

So  help  me  God !  "—Said  Ycdlc. 


82 

ciation,  and  assumed  a  more  decided  attitude  than  before,  in 
their  demands  for  redress.  On  the  25th  of  February,  1825, 
was  held  an  immense  meeting,  at  the  Freemasons'  Tavern, 
London ;  his  Grace  the  Earl  Marshal  of  England,  in  the 
chair.  At  that  meeting  the  genius  of  both  isles  was  blended, 
and  the  spirits  of  the  common  sufferers  flowed  in  sorrowful 
and  indignant  union,  through  all  the  proceedings.  Messrs. 
Stourton,  Blount,  and  the  chairman,  represented  one  land, 
and  the  twin-brethren  of  Ireland's  embattled  hosts  were 
there.  Mr.  O'Connell's  speech  was,  as  all  his  speeches 
are,  a  wonderful  mixture  of  all  sorts  of  style,  from  the  most 
lofty  to  the  most  plain ;  he  was  by  turns,  speaking  to  the 
olden  chivalry  of  the  land,  in  terms  courtly  and  polished ; 
but,  far  oftener  forgetting  their  presence,  he  flung  his  burn- 
ing words,  rough-hewn,  amongst  the  masses  of  his  auditory, 
lashing  them  into  the  most  uncontrollable  excitement.  He 
was  in  the  capital  of  England,  with  her  nobles  and  her 
citizens  around  him,  and  not  a  few  of  his  own  humble 
countrymen,  who,  to  escape  the  petty  tyrants  of  a  province, 
had  fled  to  the  refuge  of  the  capital  of  misrule. 

In  such  a  position,  with  such  an  audience,  his  creed  and 
his  country  the  subjects,  Mr.  O'Connell  was  truly  impres- 
sive and  masterly.  When  he  had  concluded,  Mr.  Shiel 
was  called  upon  by  the  vast  assembly,  and  with  nervous 
haste  he  stepped  forward.  The  place  and  the  scene  had  its 
influence  upon  him  in  like  manner — it  brought  back  his 
musings  at  Stonyhenge,  his  rambles  through  romance,  and 
in  the  mazes  of  dramatic  history.  He  saw  the  Talbot,  the 
Percy,  and  the  Clifford,  before  him — the  great  pillars  of  the 
old  name  of  England — and  his  heart  beat  time  to  the  fairy 
dance  of  his  imagination,  as  he  said  to  himself,  I  will  plant 
these  fallen  columns  upon  their  bases  again — I  will  raise 
them  up  from  the  dust — I  will  tear  the  cobwebs  from  their 
family  escutcheons,  and  unbolt  the  parliament  their  fathers 
created,  to  these,  their  sons.  It  was  a  proud  thought,  and 
inspiring ;  but  it  was  less  patriotic  than  that  of  O'Connell, 
who  could  see  in  these  coronets  nothing  better  than  em- 
blems, of  themselves  worthless,  but  which  shed  some  tinge 
of  nobility  on  his  cause.  The  different  inspirations  which 
they  drew  from  the  same  cause  were  fair  exemplars  of  each 
man's  mental  character.  This  meeting  and  one  or  two 
others  during  this  year,  greatly  advanced  the  cause  in 
England ;  several  new  accessions  to  its  ranks  occurred ; 


83 

amongst  the  rest   Mr.  Horton,  M.  P.,  for  Newcastle-on- 
Tyne,  and  other  gentlemen  of  fortune  and  good  family. 

In  1826,  the  Association  resolved  to  try  its  strength  with 
the  ascendancy  party  in  Ireland.  The  people  had  been 
trained — the  treasury  was  full — illegal  combinations  were 
almost  extinct — the  public  awaited  some  new  step,  and  the 
Catholics  of  Ireland  resolved  to  take  a  bold  and  decisive 
one. 


CHAPTER    SEVEN. 

General  Election,  of  1826. —  The  Association  resolves  to  con- 
test Waterford,  Louth,  and  Monaghan. —  The  Result. — 
Triumphs  of  the  Catholics  in  England. — Publications. — 
The  Press. — Death  of  Edioard  Hay,  Esc. —  William 
Cobbett. — Controversy  of  the  *^  Wings. ^^ 

Amongst  the  families  de\^oted  to  the  "  Protestant  Ascen- 
dancy" interest,  the  Beresfords,  in  the  south  of  Ireland, 
and  the  Fosters,  in  the  north,  were  of  the  most  wealthy, 
ardent,  and  prominent.  These  houses  were  radically  aris- 
tocratic, from  very  different  causes.  The  latter  was  of 
comparatively  ancient  origin — dating  backwards  to  the  days 
of  Cromwell,  and  some  say  earlier;  they  had  been,  for  a 
century,  the  dictators  of  their  locality ;  and  long  accustomed 
to  undisturbed  authority  and  the  exercise  of  extensive  pat- 
ronage, both  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  they  had  gradually 
persuaded  themselves  to  believe  that  their  absolute  power 
was,  of  divine  right,  hereditary. 

The  origin  of  the  Beresfords  was  somewhat  different, 
and  less  remote.  In  the  year  175-,  the  first  of  the  family 
came  over  to  Ireland,  as  a  subaltern  in  an  infantry  regi- 
ment. In  a  ball-room,  at  Waterford,  he  met  with  Catharine, 
dowager-countess  of  Tyrone ;  a  lady  advanced  in  life,  but 
possessed  of  many  a  broad  acre  of  dowry,  in  various  parts 
of  the  island.  The  subaltern  was  athletic  and  courteous, 
and  with  the  manor  of  Curraghmore  in  perspective,  saw  in 


84 

the  noble  bereaved  the  perfection  of  her  sex.  After  a  brief 
courtship  a  marriage  was  the  consequence,  and  by  that 
means  was  entailed  upon  Ireland,  one  of  the  most  ruthless 
and  brutal  races  of  her  provincial  tyrants.  The  marquisate 
dates  from  1787.  In  the  memorable  era  of  1798,  the  name 
of  Beresford  acquired  a  murderous  celebrity  amongst  the 
enemies  of  the  people.  John  Claudius  Beresford  (whose 
Roman  patronyme  reminds  us  of  Macauley's  fine  expres- 
sion, in  one  of  his  immortal  lays  of  ancient  Rome — 

"  There  never  yet  was  Claudius,  that  did  not  wish  the  Commons  ill " — ) 

was  particularly  active  in  that  era  of  treachery  and  blood- 
shed. He  was  a  secretary  to  one  of  the  first  Orange  Asso- 
ciations ever  organized  in  Ireland — which  were  merely  the 
continuation  of  other  anti-national  secret  societies.  Of  this 
particular  society,  Thomas  Verner  was  Grand  Master.  Nor 
was  the  disinterestedness  of  this  family  very  conspicuous ; 
among  the  items  which  made  up  the  enormous  "  secret 
service  money"  expenditure  of  that  period,  we  find  the 
following :  ^ — 

July  4,  179S— J.  C.  Beresford,     -     -     -     £50  00  00 

April  8,  1802 — J.  C.  Beresford,  amount  of 
money  expended  for   the   government, 
between  1798  and  1802,     -     -     -     -     £470  11     8^ 
And  in  another  place  we  find, 

Feb.  25,  1802— Marquis  of  Waterford,      £162  00  00 

March  15,  1798,— do.         do.       -     -     -     £70  00  00 


The  name  of  this  illustrious  family  is  also  connected  with 
a  highly  original  invention,  that  of  converting  a  riding- 
school,  in  Dublin,  into  a  house  of  torture,  in  which  scenes 
were  enacted,  almost  beyond  the  power  of  credulity  to  be- 
lieve. In  this  earth-hell,  poor,  naked  wretches,  the  tender 
youth  as  well  as  the  decrepid  grandsire,  and  even  women 
themselves,  were  scourged  by  the  orders  of  these  "  private 
gentlemen,"  who  often  regaled  their  friends  with  the  odious 
spectacle,  and  took  occasionally  an  amature  hand  at  the 
cat-o'-nine-tails.  Having  so  figured  in  the  prologue,  it  was 
natural  to  find  them,  towards  the  denouement  of  that  drama, 

*  For  these  and  other  extraordinary  facts,  see  Madden,  Appendix, 
2d  vol.  United  Irishmen,  where  it  is  shown  that  nobles,  bishops,  and 
even  "  patriots,"  were  hirelings  of  the  Castle. 


85 

which,  like  most  of  our  modern  novels,  commenced  in  a 
quarrel,  and  ended  in  "  a  union."  We  find  three  of  the 
Beresfords  voting  for  the  legislative  union,  in  the  last  Irish 
House  of  Commons,  and  for  this  exertion  of  loyalty,  they 
were  again  most  richly  recompensed,  and  at  the  expense  of 
the  nation. 

Such  were  the  two  tyrant  tribes  against  which,  in  1826, 
the  Catholic  Association  entered  the  lists,  as  the  champion 
of  the  people.  Both  had  been  enriched  by  the  division  of 
the  booty  consequent  upon  the  capture  of  Ireland's  constitu- 
tion ;  both  had  displayed  their  loyalty  unmercifully  austere 
in  the  disastrous  scenes  of  '98 ;  both  had  many  church  liv- 
ings at  their  bestowal ;  both  held  local  commands,  and  took 
precedent  in  all  political  displays — addresses  to  majesty,  et- 
cetera, which  might  originate  in  their  respective  provinces 
Both  were  wealthy,  imperious  and  revengeful. 

Against  such  influence  the  Association  could  only  array 
the  integrity  of  the  yeomanry  of  Louth  and  Waterford,  and 
the  eloquence  of  the  orators  of  the  Corn  Exchange.  It  was 
hard  to  call  upon  the  people  to  stand  out  boldly  against  their 
unforgiving  landlords.  The  friends  of  emancipation  felt 
that  it  was  so.  but  the  trial  must  be  made.  The  chances  of 
certain  defeat  deeply  impressed  the  minds  of  the  most  cour- 
ageous, yet  the  Association  felt  that  the  anxiety  of  all  its 
friends  required  some  brilliant  exploit,  and  boldly  overlook- 
ing the  difficulty,  they  saw  nothing  but  glory  beyond  it. 

Lord  George  Beresford,  on  the  dissolution  of  parlia- 
ment, was  nominated  for  the  representation  of  Waterford, 
and  on  his  behalf  was  exerted  all  the  interest  of  his  family,  as 
well  as  that  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  and  other  extensive 
landholders  of  the  county.  The  candidate  of  the  Associa- 
tion was  Mr.  Villiers  Stuart,  by  birth  a  Scotchman,  pos- 
sessed of  some  property  in  Waterford,  and  of  well-known 
pro-Catholic  partialities.  When  the  determination  of  the 
Catholics  to  contest  the  county  became  known,  the  greatest 
activity  pervaded  their  friends  and  their  opponents.  The 
Beresfords  published  a  sullen  and  unyieldingly  "  Protestant " 
address  ;  Mr.  Stuart  announced  himself  in  a  manly  and 
modest  appeal  to  the  electors ;  the  Association  sent  down 
its  best  and  ablest  members,  to  arrange  all  preliminaries 
with  the  local  agitators ;  the  priesthood  openly  espoused, 
and  rigorously  advocated  the  claims  of  "  Stuart  and  eman- 
cipation," and  many  were  the  startling  scenes  which  oc- 
S 


86 

curred  between  the  enthusiastic  Soggartk^  and  his  sorely 
pressed  parishioners.  The  tory  candidate,  on  the  other 
hand,  had  active  canvassers  in  the  field,  offering  money  to 
some,  leases  to  otliers,  and  inducements  to  all.  It  was  a 
trial  of  fearful  importance  to  the  character  of  the  people,  as 
well  as  to  the  success  of  their  cause.  Everything  that  could 
seduce,  tempt  or  terrify,  was  brought  to  bear  upon  the  un- 
fortunate tenantry  of  the  unscrupulous  conservatives. 

The  day  for  action  at  length  arrived,  and  the  master 
spirit,  O'Connell,  appeared  in  person  on  the  hustings.  The 
masses  of  the  population  had  pledged  themselves  against  all 
intoxicating  liquors ;  they  had  also  taken  a  solemn  and  de- 
liberate pledge  not  to  violate  the  peace,  no  matter  what 
insults  they  might  receive.  Both  these  pledges  they  kept 
with  unscrupulous  fidelity.  The  strongest  man  might  have 
been  spat  upon  by  a  liveried  manikin,  and  not  a  word  of 
reproof  would  he  utter,  nor  a  finger  be  raised  to  avenge  it. 
The  reception  of  O'Connell  augured  well  for  the  success  of 
his  experiment,  and  accordingly,  Mr.  Stuart  was  elected  by 
an  overwhelming  majority. 

The  fate  of  the  Beresfords  was  merely  a  prototype  of  that 
which  awaited  the  Fosters.  In  Louth,  Lord  Oriel  and  Lord 
Roden  were  the  chief  patrons  of  the  county,  and  Mr.  Les- 
lie Foster  and  Mr.  Fortescue  were  their  candidates.  On 
their  part  the  emancipationists  induced  Mr.  Dawson,  a  re- 
tired barrister,  to  stand  forth  in  the  breach,  to  bear  the  brunt 
of  as  heavy  a  contest,  as  ever,  perhaps,  occurred  since  or 
before.  Here  again  the  genius  of  Ireland,  and  the  high- 
toned  sense  of  honor  indigenous  of  her  noble  peasantry, 
triumphed  over  coronets  and  wealth,  and  the  blandishments 
of  an  aroused  and  unscrupulous  aristocracy. 

Simultaneous  with  the  elections  of  Waterford  and  Louth, 
where  the  genius  of  emancipation,  in  the  persons  of  O'Con- 
nell and  Shiel,  had  prostrated  Protestant  ascendancy,  was 
that  of  Monaghan,  in  which  the  ill-fated  and  gifted  Brie, 
after  displaying  abilities  and  judgment  inferior  to  neither, 
beheld  the  cause  of  the  people  crowned  with  similar  success, 
in  the  return  of  Westenra.  This  triple  triumph  was  a 
heavy  blessing  for  the  Association  to  bear,  but  they  were 
equal  to  the  plenitude  of  their  suddenly-acquired  laurels. 
The  brightness  of  their  triumph  did  not  blind  them  to  the 

*  Anglice — Priest. 


87 

difficulty  of  making  the  best  use  of  it — nor  the  glory  won 
by  their  agents  content  them,  while  unaccompanied  b^ 
substantial  benefits.  They  resolved  to  husband  up  their 
energies — to  bear  their  triumphs  quietly — to  treat  their 
opponents  forbearingly — and,  in  short,  to  lose  no  time  in 
following  up  the  vantage  blow  they  had  struck  at  the  hoary 
head  and  iron  sceptre  of  Intolerance. 

These  memorable  elections  caused,  at  the  period  of  their 
occurrence,  an  intense  excitement  amongst  men  of  all  classes 
in  the  empire,  and  were  watched  to  the  issue,  with  feelings 
of  mournful  forethought,  by  the  advocates  of  the  old  regime. 
The  aristocracy  drew  closer  to  each  other,  from  a  sense  of 
impending  danger,  and  allied  by  their  fears,  looked  with 
awe  and  silent  bitterness  at  the  progress  of  the  people. 
The  popular  cause  no  longer  crept  like  a  snail  upon  its 
path,  but  bounded  like  an  eager  steed,  straining  for  an  im- 
perishable prize.  A  sudden  conscience  struck  the  souls  of 
the  ascendancy  party,  that  their  days  were  not  to  be  pro- 
longed upon  the  earth ;  yet,  consistent  to  the  last,  they 
swore  rather  to  perish  than  concede.  The  Marquis  of 
Waterford,  after  desolating  his  extensive  estates,  by  a  whole- 
sale ejection  of  his  courageous  tenantry,  vowed  an  eternal 
hostile  farewell  to  the  land,  on  which  his  father  had  landed 
a  beggar  ;  but  while  on  his  way  to  the  Continent,  was  over- 
taken with  a  mortal  illness  at  an  obscure  village  in  Wales. 
He  who  had  made  so  many  homeless,  thus  closed  his  own 
eyes  in  a  strange  country — unwept,  unwatched,  and  un- 
prepared. 

The  same  period,  in  which  took  place  the  events  we  have 
tried  to  chronicle,  was  also  remarkable  for  indications  of 
growing  liberality  in  the  choice  of  representatives  at  the 
English  elections.  At  a  meeting  of  the  British  Catholic 
Association,  held  immediately  after  the  issue  of  the  general 
election  of  1826,  on  the  26th  day  of  July,  Edward  Blount, 
the  secretary  of  that  body,  a  most  influential  and  able  agi- 
tator, said  : — "  Our  opponents  had  directed  all  their  efforts 
to  influence  the  public  mind  against  us,  and  had  vainly 
imagined,  that  under  the  delusion  of  an  unprincipled  war- 
whoop,  the  voice  of  justice,  honor,  humanity,  and  liberality 
would  have  been  extinguished.  They  reckoned  without 
their  host.  In  the  whole  range  of  the  country,  hardly  a 
solitary  instance,  to  their  immortal  honor  be  it  spoken,  can 
be  discovered,  where  this  appeal  to  prejudice  and  passion 


88 

has  been  successful."  In  the  same  address,  Mr.  Blount 
stated  that  three  hundred  thousand  documents  of  various 
sizes  had  been  circulated  by  the  British  Catholic  Association. 
If  to  this  we  were  to  add  the  innumerable  tracts,  speeches, 
sermons,  and  pamphlets  from  the  press  of  the  Catholic  Asso- 
ciation, we  would  find  a  vast,  an  almost  unprecedented 
amount  of  research  and  argument  arrayed  on  the  side  of 
religious  liberty. 

While  on  this  view  of  the  subject,  we  cannot  fail  to  no- 
tice the  pre-eminent  zeal  with  which  the  Irish  metropolitan 
press  followed  up  each  new  success  of  the  people,  stimulat- 
ing and  supporting  them  to  even  higher  victories.  The 
Register,  then  conducted  by  Mr.  Stanton ;  the  Freeman's 
Journal,  originally  established  by  the  no  less  famous  than 
able  Dr.  Lucas ;  and  the  Evening  Post,  edited  by  Mr. 
Frederick  Conway,  led  the  van  of  the  metropolitan  Irish 
press.  Nor  was  the  provincial  press  inferior  in  spirit  or  in 
watchfulness,  to  their  more  fortunately  located  co-laborers ; 
in  every  national  sheet,  the  most  ardent  zeal  appeared,  and 
often  clothed  in  language  equally  pertinent  and  classical. 

Few  stimulants  are  more  useful  to  the  purification  of  the 
press,  than  the  zest  which  extensive  legislative  changes 
gives  to  political  controversy.  In  such  seasons,  the  minds 
capable  of  thinking  and  reasoning,  are  taxed  to  their  ut- 
most ;  they  descend  to  the  sources  of  government  and  of 
law ;  the  origin  of  social  wrongs,  and  the  false  construction 
of  society,  are  revealed  to  them,  even  as  the  pearl-diver  in 
his  vocation  marks  the  formation  of  worthless  weeds,  and 
explores  the  haunts  of  monstrous  creatures.  In  such  a  time 
it  is  easy  to  distinguish  who  possesses  the  metal  of  true 
genius,  and  who  the  sounding  brass. 

In  October  of  this  year,  died  Mr.  Edward  Hay,  of  Bal- 
linkeel,  county  of  Wexford,  best  known  as  the  historian  of 
the  insurrection  of  1798,  in  his  native  country,  and  for  many 
years  secretary  to  the  Catholics  of  Ireland.  Mr.  Hay  was 
a  gentleman  in  the  most  liberal  sense — as  much  from  the 
respectability  of  his  family,  and  of  his  own  life,  as  from 
public  spirit  and  a  strict  personal  regard  for  integrity  of 
conduct.  His  family  were  prominent  in  the  first  shoal  of 
Norman  invaders  who  swarmed  along  the  south-eastern 
coast  of  Ireland  in  the  days  of  the  second  Henry,  skulking 
into  patrimonies  on  the  banks  of  the  Slaney,  the  Barrow, 
and  the  Suire.     They  were  originally  men  of  larg'e  landed 


89 

possessions ;  but  their  descendants,  by  preserving  their 
creed,  sacrificed  their  estates.  Notwithstanding,  the  father 
of  Mr.  Hay  was  considered  a  weahhy  man ;  he  is  remem- 
bered in  that  neighborhood  as  an  inveterate  duellist  and 
sportsman ;  and  many  a  haughty,  bigoted  'squire  has  suf- 
fered his  nose  to  be  plucked,  rather  than  measure  swords 
with  old  Hay.  His  son,  in  1792,  was  one  of  the  Catholic 
delegates  who,  with  John  Keogh,  of  Mount  Jerome,  laid  the 
complaints  of  their  brethren  at  the  foot  of  the  throne — and 
this,  against  the  express  wishes  of  his  father,  who  disinher- 
ited him  for  his  patriotism.  A  few  thousands,  how^ever, 
were  left  him  in  his  own  right ;  but  of  this  he  was  also  de- 
prived by  the  unnatural  litigation  of  his  brother.  Major  Hay. 
In  1798,  Mr.  Hay  took  an  active  part  in  the  ill-advised 
rising  of  the  peasantry  of  his  native  county,  of  which  he  has 
given  a  modest  and  accurate  account  in  his  patriotic  and 
trustworthy  history  of  that  unfortunate  insurrection.  In  the 
general  ruin  which  followed  that  desperate  strife  of  the 
unarmed  people  with  their  long-prepared  rulers,  Mr.  Hay 
would  have  undoubtedly  been  a  partner,  were  it  not  for  the 
representations  of  Lord  Kingsboro'  and  other  officers  of 
high  rank  who  had  served  in  Wexford,  who  were  not  for- 
getful of  his  humanity  in  their  days  of  danger,  and  of  his 
incessant  efforts  to  prevent  the  cruelties  of  the  justly  exas- 
perated peasantry.  Of  Mr.  Hay's  public  life  we  find  nothing 
on  record,  subsequent  to  the  publication  of  his  "  Narrative 
of  the  Insurrection  in  Wexford,"  until  his  appearance  at  the 
Catholic  Board  meetings  in  the  capacity  of  secretary.  For 
the  few  years  preceding  his  death,  he  had  retired  from  that 
position,  on  account  of  some  difference  with  Mr.  O'Connell, 
to  whom  he  never  afterwards  could  be  reconciled.  Like 
many  another  able  and  honest  man,  he  died  not  worth  a 
shilling,  leaving  but  his  poverty  to  his  numerous  family, 
and  that  carriage  of  blended  dignity  and  gentleness,  which 
gives  a  sanctity  to  misfortune,  and  renders  even  rags 
respectable. 

Their  victories,  in  1826,  filled  the  hearts  of  the  emanci- 
pationists with  new  strength,  and  accelerated  the  final 
triumph  of  that  measure.  But  there  was  one  obstacle,  and 
a  formidable  one,  a  great  cause  for  intestine  dissensions — I 
mean  the  well-known  controversy  relative  to  the  "  wings" 
already  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  name  of  Coun- 
sellor Brie.  The  chief  advocates  of  emancipation  were  at 
8^ 


90 

variance  on  this  subject,  and  each  contended  for  the  adop- 
tion of  his  own  particular  views.  Mr.  O'Connell  was  for 
recognizing  the  freehold  wing,  but  opposed  the  clerical 
wing ;  Mr.  Lawless  ably  and  incessantly  decried  the  free- 
hold wing,  which  was  the  abolition  of  the  forty-shilling 
qualification.  Several  titled  leaders,  and  many  liberal 
Protestants,  were  in  favor  of  pensioning  the  Catholic 
clergy;  while  the  immortal  J.  K.  L.,  and  the  scarcely  less 
gifted  Dr.  Mac  Hale,  courageously  opposed  their  own  ag- 
grandizement, at  the  expense  of  their  laity  and  church. 
The  wings  were  likely  to  kill  the  entire  measure,  by  the 
sources  of  difference  they  carried  with  them  ;  and  Parlia- 
ment knew  not  for  a  time,  nor  cared  to  know,  w^hose 
opinion  to  take,  as  the  foundation  of  a  satisfactory  act. 

Foremost  in  this  most  interesting  controversy,  stood  a 
sturdy  form,  possessing  a  mind, shrewd,  vigilant  and  logical, 
of  unvarnished  speech,  and  matchless  determination.  To 
talents  of  a  simple  class,  unbedecked  by  study,  but  clarified 
in  the  philosophic  sedateness  of  his  tastes,  William  Cobbett 
added  a  daring  at  once  novel  and  prudent,  in  his  contests 
with  the  ascendant  bigotry  and  toryism  of  England.  His 
many  public  acts  and  writings  form  consecutive  links  be 
tween  those  singular  circumstances  through  which,  without 
any  personal  consistency,  he  transformed  himself  from  a 
private  in  an  infantry  regiment,  into  a  member  of  Parlia- 
ment for  the  town  of  Oldham.  Born  in  the  humblest  circle 
of  plebeian  life,  in  the  county  of  Hampshire,  and  bred  a 
common  soldier,  he  found  himself  master  of  some  knowl- 
edge, of  vast  penetration,  and  a  thoroughly  English  style 
of  composition.  In  his  regiment  he  was  remarkable  for 
great  studiousness  of  disposition  ;  and  during  the  many 
long  nights  he  passed  in  the  provincial  garrisons  of  North 
America,  whether  on  the  sentinel's  walk  or  in  his  quarters, 
his  active  mind  was  never  idle.  In  one  of  his  officers,  as 
he  himself  informs  us,  (the  renowned  and  chivalric  Lord 
Edward  Fitzgerald,)  he  found  a  friend  and  patron,  who 
could  appreciate  his  acquirements,  and  who  readily  assisted 
in  bettering  his  fortunes.  On  the  return  of  their  regiment 
from  the  North  American  service  to  England,  Lord  Edward 
immediately  procured  his  release  from  the  army.  At  this 
time  he  possessed  a  young  wife,  whom  he  had  wooed  in  his 
own  original  manner,  and  a  small  sum  of  money,  the  sav- 
ings of  his  scanty  hire.     After  spending  some  months  in 


91 

England,  he  started  his  Register,  devoted  to  the  interests 
of  the  working  classes,  the  emancipation  of  Catholics,  the 
abolition  of  tithes  and  large  banking  institutions,  and  the 
attainment  of  a  reform  in  Parliament. 

The  novelty  of  his  style ;  the  bold  prudence  of  his  de- 
clamation ;  his  hostility  to  the  church  establishment ;  and 
his  contempt  for  the  aristocracy,  drew  him  speedily  into 
notice.  One  or  two  libel  suits  furthered  his  notoriety,  and 
in  a  few  years  his  paper  became  really  formidable.  It  was 
his  great  ambition  to  be  considered  "  the  man  of  the 
people,"  and  to  this  end  he  endeavored  to  interweave  his 
name  with  their  most  domestic  concerns  ;  he  wrote  "  Cot- 
tage Economies,"  works  on  gardening,  "Advice  to  Young 
Men,"  and  sermons  against  tithes,  usury,  etc.  These 
works  were  issued  chiefly  in  six-penny  numbers,  and  from 
their  point,  simplicity,  and  sound  sense,  became  immense 
favorites  with  the  people  of  England.  His  writings  speed- 
ily crossed  the  channel,  until  his  "History  of  the  English 
'  Reformation,' "  and  his  "  Life  of  General  Andrew  Jack- 
son," established  his  fame  and  his  Register  in  Ireland. 

At  the  period  to  which  we  have  arrived,  the  tide  of 
Catholic  agitation  was  at  its  full ;  and  of  all  the  names  it 
bore  along,  none,  save  O'Connell's,  bore,  for  the  time,  a 
prouder  front  than  that  of  William  Cobbett.  But  he  yielded 
too  much  to  popularity,  and  was  swept  away  in  its  turbid 
current.  He  took  a  firm  stand  against  both  wings,  and  put 
forth  all  his  energies  against  their  adoption  by  the  Catholics. 
The  forty-shilling  freeholders,  the  trades  union,  and  Mr. 
Lawless  greeted  his  accession  to  their  views  with  joy,  while 
the  clergy  were  no  less  pleased  with  his  homespun  denun- 
ciations of  those  who  sought  to  bribe  them  into  indolence, 
and  thus  to  insure  their  dependence  on  the  will  of  the  gov- 
ernment. For  a  time,  O'Connell's  fame  seemed  to  vibrate  ; 
Cobbett  saw  its  crisis  at  hand,  and  unwisely  poured  forth  a 
torrent  of  bitter  personalities,  which  effectually  injured  his 
own  reputation,  and  re-acted  powerfully  in  favor  of  his 
adversary.  When,  too  late,  he  saw  the  errors  he  had  com- 
mitted, his  exasperation  prevented  his  making  any  atone- 
ment, and  he  madly  persevered  in  his  ferocious  libels  on 
the  great  leader  and  his  most  devoted  disciples.  Yet  the 
honesty  of  his  intentions  was  not  then  doubted  by  the  ma- 
jority of  the  Catholics,  and  their  unsuspecting  dispositions 
saved  him  from  utter  disrepute. 


92 

Cobbett  was  a  useful  and  remarkable  man,  but  by  no 
means  possessed  of  the  lineaments  of  greatness.  To  those 
who  differed  from  him  in  detail,  he  was  as  hostile,  and  often 
more  hostile,  than  to  those  who  opposed  totally  the  ques- 
tions he  espoused.  He  hated  O'Connell  in  his  soul — 
which  was  a  mark  of  unquestionable  littleness.  A  pine 
may  flourish  bravely  in  the  shadow  of  an  oak ;  and  so  can 
true  greatness  grow  in  the  shadow  of  a  superior  nature. 
Cobbett  could  no  more  have  been  O'Connell,  than  O'Connell 
could  have  been  Cobbett.  Their  natures  were  essentially 
different — their  powers  and  capabilities  were  dissimilar; 
and  in  forgetting  this  truth,  Cobbett  unmade  his  own  char- 
acter. He  was  not  born  to  be  the  tribune  of  the  people  ; 
he  was  not  a  "  thinking  machine  on  two  legs."  Had  he 
sedulously  and  consistently  followed  the  example  of  Swift, 
he  might  have  left  behind  productions  as  nearly  equal  to 
the  Draper's  Letters,  as  the  masterpiece  of  the  Roman 
poet  is  to  its  prototype,  the  Iliad.  He  had  the  humor,  the 
courage,  the  experience,  and  the  language,  with  a  much 
greater  theme  than  the  manufacture  of  woollens,  upon  which 
to  establish  a  political  fame  akin  to  Swift's.  The  Archi- 
medean point  for  him  was  his  closet ;  his  pen,  and  not  his 
voice,  should  have  been  his  lever. 

Cobbett  was  an  inconsistent  and  unsteady  public  man. 
In  every  pursuit  he  seemed  more  in  earnest  than  he  really 
was.  His  views  of  the  Catholic  religion,  at  various  periods 
of  his  life,  will  illustrate  this  assertion.  Thus,  in  his  letter 
to  Pope  Pius,  dated  Nov.  8th,  1828,  he  rebukes  Dr.  Doyle 
for  not  showing  sufficient  respect  to  the  sovereign  Pontiff. 
"  Dr.  Doyle,"  he  says,  "  has  not  confined  his  labors  in  this 
way  to  works  from  the  press,  but  has,  in  evidence  given  by 
him  before  the  houses  of  Parliament,  spoken  in  the  most 
light,  not  to  say  contemptuous,  manner  of  the  influence  and 
authority  of  the  Pope  relative  to  the  Catholic  Church." 
Yet  in  his  Register  for  February  11th,  1815,  we  find  the 
very  same  pen  writing  down  this  sentiment  in  relation  to 
Joachim  Murat,  king  of  Naples  : — "  With  regard  to  what 
is  said  of  Joachim's  designs  against  the  Pope,  nothing  has 
appeared  in  a  shape  sufficiently  authentic  to  enable  me  to 
form  a  correct  opinion,  though  I  should  be  well  pleased  to 
hear  that  the  temporal,  as  well  as  the  spiritual  power  of  his 
Holiness,  had  received  an  irrecoverable  blow."  Neverthe- 
less, when  he  heard  that  his  "  Reformation"  had  been  men- 


93 

tioned  with  praise  at  Rome,  lie  forthwith  addressed  a  familiar 
and  respectful  letter  to  his  Holiness,  leaving  this  and  other 
like  opinions  unretracted,  before  the  public.  He  was,  more- 
over, by  turns  the  libeller  and  the  flatterer  of  individuals 
and  states ;  his  praise  and  censure  were  equally  unqualified 
in  relation  to  America  and  Ireland;  his  attacks  on  O'Con- 
nell,  Burdett,  Grattan,  and  other  eminent  public  men,  were 
modified  according-  to  the  degree  of  attention  which  they 
gave  them.  In  all  his  definitions  of  character — -in  all  his 
religious  and  political  essays,  he  attacked  principles  because 
their  defenders  were  his  enemies,  and  seemingly  from  no 
higher  motive ;  thus  the  sins  of  a  blunt  advocate  were 
visited  upon  his  cause,  howsoever  pure  and  unimpeachable 
it  might  be.  He  lived  an  agitator  without  principle  him- 
self, while  he  could  not  bear  coadjutors  more  honest ;  he 
advocated  Catholicism  against  all  the  charges  brought  by 
the  church  of  his  own  country,  yet  he  had  not  the  strength 
or  sincerity  to  adopt  its  doctrines,  while  he  censured  others 
severely  for  having  cast  them  off. 

But  we  must  not  imao-ine  that  this  unbroken  and  insin- 
cere  spirit  was  without  its  better  moods,  or  that  its  great 
energies  were  expended  without  effect. 

Self-interest,  the  circumstances  of  his  birth,  his  defective 
education,  and  the  popular  bias  of  his  mind,  gave  to  Cob- 
bet's  career  a  sort  of  consistency  which  though  it  did  not 
spring  from  motives  of  conscience,  rendered  his  middle  age 
formidable  on  account  of  his  past  triumphs.  His  egotism 
or  ambition  was  of  so  towering  a  nature  as  to  look  down 
upon,  rather  than  up  to,  aristocracy ;  and  sneering  on  the 
many  lords  who  were  sovereign  in  their  own  petty  circles, 
he  resolved  to  be  lord  of  all  the  land,  moving  its  lower 
strata,  and  thereby  shaking  even  the  throne  if  necessary. 
The  dictatorial  tone  of  his  Register  would  never  have  been 
tolerated  in  any  other  newspaper  writer;  but  one,  who,  while 
he  dared  thus  speak  to  the  people,  used  the  same  style  in 
his  epistles  to  the  king,  to  the  Hartford  conventionists,  to 
Bonaparte,  to  Louis  of  France,  to  the  Pope,  seemed  priv- 
ileged to  be  unceremonious.  His  consistent  and  habitual 
courage  led  him  to  oppose  the  last  American  war,  and  to 
denounce  the  Conofress  of  Vienna;  he  wrote  a  book  and 
published  it  in  praise  of  General  Jackson,  while  yet  the 
beaten  troops  of  Packenham  lived  and  told  their  tale  of  shame 
around  him ;  and  he  eulogized  Bonaparte  at  the  very  mo- 


94 

meat  lie  was  in  open  arms  against  England.  Such  a  man, 
although  intolerant  of  the  superior  popularity  of  his  coadju- 
tors, was  yet  a  man  for  the  multitude,  in  the  feverish  and 
partially-awakened  state  in  which  the  French  Revolution  left 
the  less  than  half-educated  masses  of  the  British  islands. 
They  were  attracted  by  his  fearlessness,  they  were  charmed 
with  his  theories,  they  echoed  his  oracular  decisions,  and 
became  accessory  to  the  fulfilment  of  his  prophecies.  There 
was  more  strength  in  his  pen  than  all  the  reviewers  of  the 
land  could  muster,  and  his  facts  were  as  inexhaustible  as 
his  logic  was  vivid.  In  short,  he  was  a  man  who,  without 
the  aid  of  principles,  did  much  for  the  lower  ranks  of  Eng- 
land— much  for  the  dissemination  of  historic  truth  and  polit- 
ical knowledge,  and  who  gave  to  others  what  he  did  not 
himself  possess, — firmness  of  purpose,  and  a  consistent 
eagerness  for  social  amelioration,  and  parliamentary  reform. 
He  lived  to  see  the  fulfilment  of  many  of  his  desires — to  sit 
in  the  senate  of  his  native  land,  and  to  fill  a  place  in  her 
literature.  A  more  disinterested  spirit  could  not  have  been 
more  amply  rewarded,  while  many  such  have  fared  much 
worse  after  undergoing  harder  public  novitiates. 

Cobbett's  accession  to  the  formidable  opposition  to  the 
wings,  but  gave  renewed  energy  to  O'Connell ;  he  saw  that 
the  forty-shilling  freeholders  should  be  disfranchised  to 
carry  the  greater  measure  of  emancipation.  He  argued  that 
there  was  no  great  gain  without  some  sacrifice ;  that  to 
save  the  land  from  a  civil  war,  and  religion  from  a  new 
persecution,  it  were  better  to  allow  this  wing  to  be  affixed 
to  the  bill,  while  at  the  same  time  he  firmly  refused  to 
sanction  or  connive  at  the  project  of  pensioning  the  clergy. 
His  genius  and  the  necessity  of  the  time  succeeded,  and  the 
forty  shilling  freeholders  were  disfranchised  accordingly, 
and  the  long-delayed  measure  was  carried. 


9S 


CHAPTER  EIGHT. 

Repeal  of  the  Corporation  and  Test  Acts. — O^Connell  is 
nominated  for  the  Representation  of  Clare. —  The  first 
Clare  election. — Mr.  Steel. — O^GorTnan  Mahon  and  Fa- 
ther  Maguire. — Passage  of  the  Emancipation  Act. — 
O^Connell  in  St.  Stephens. — He  is  refused  a  seat  under 
the  new  Act. 

The  general  election  of  1S26  had  placed  in  the  councils  of 
the  nation  many  gentlemen  favorable  to  the  liberation  of  the 
Catholic  body,  to  a  certain  extent,  although  the  number  of 
thorough-going  emancipators  Avas  very  limited.  One  tri- 
umph, however,  it  gave  to  the  cause,  in  the  repeal  of  the 
odious  corporation  and  test  acts,  for  which  the  year  1827  is 
chiefly  remarkable  in  the  annals  of  the  Catholic  question. 
To  the  English  whigs  the  merit  of  first  moving  in  this  matter 
is  justly  due  :  Lord  John  Russell  being  the  author  of  the  mo- 
tion. It  is  fair  also  to  add  that  several  tory  members,  in- 
cluding the  Duke  of  Wellington,  without  whose  aid  it  could 
not  then  have  passed  into  law,  supported  the  bill.  The 
present  Earl  of  Shrewsbury  had  written  a  very  able  little 
book,  styled  "  Reasons  for  not  taking  the  Test,"  which  had 
its  share  in  this  result ;  while  Mr.  Brougham,  Sir  Francis 
Burdett,  and  the  radical  reformers,  to  a  man,  stood  by  it  and 
voted  for  it  from  the  first. 

It  was  in  consequence  of  the  part  he  took  in  effecting  the 
repeal  of  these  acts,  and  as  some  say,  at  the  suggestion  of 
Lord  John  Russell,"^  that  Mr.  O'Connell  moved,  in  the  As- 
sociation, to  rescind  a  resolution  binding  that  body  to  oppose 
the  election  of  all  candidates  for  Irish  seats  in  Parliament 
who  refused  to  pledge  themselves  against  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington's administration.  In  this  he  providentially  failed, 
and  that  failure  was  a  chief  cause  of  his  own  election  for 
Clare. 

On  the  meeting  of  Parliament  in  1828,  it  was  announced 

*  Firfe  Huish)  p.  434. 


96 

that  Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald,  one  of  the  sitting  members  for 
Clare,  had  been  raised  to  a  seat  in  the  new  cabinet,  which 
occasioned  a  vacancy  in  the  representation  of  that  county. 
A  new  writ  was  issued  accordingly,  and  Mr.  Fitzgerald,  as 
a  ministerialist,  resolved  to  contest  any  candidate  who  might 
be  brought  forward  by  the  Catholic  Association.  Descended 
of  a  good  family,  of  great  personal  popularity,  large  fortune, 
and  respectable  talents,  he  came  into  the  field  with  many 
advantages.  His  father  had  filled  the  office  of  Prime  Ser- 
geant at  the  Irish  bar  for  many  years,  an  office  in  which  he 
had  been  preceded  by  Malone,  and  other  illustrious  jurists. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  last  Irish  Parliament,  and  an  ac- 
tive opponent  of  the  Union ;  his  son,  therefore,  could  not 
be  an  object  of  dislike  to  the  generous  electors  of  Clare. 
Mr.  Fitzgerald  had  employed  his  ministerial  influence  for 
the  benefit  of  many  in  his  native  country,  for  which  he 
really  entertained  a  sort  of  patriotic  affection.  It  may  readily 
be  imagined  that  the  defeat  of  such  a  man  was  a  very  dif- 
ferent, and  much  more  difficult  task,  than  the  overthrow  of 
a  Foster  or  a  Beresford. 

In  virtue  of  their  anti-ministerial  pledge,  the  Association 
chose  an  opposition  candidate,  and  their  choice  fell  upon 
Major  McNamara,  a  gentleman  of  better  family  than  for- 
tune, who  had  been  O'Connell's  second,  in  the  duel  with 
D'Esterre,  and  withal  was  popular  in  Clare.  He  had  no 
pretensions  to  ability,  except  in  settling  affairs  of  honor,  and 
the  highest  flight  of  his  ambition  was  to  clear  handsomely 
a  five-barred  gate.  He  was  now  beyond  life's  half-way 
house,  a  portly  and  courteous  country  gentleman,  much 
respected  by  his  acquaintance,  and  honored  by  the  humbler 
classes.  He  was  known  to  have  strong  pro-Catholic  feel- 
ings, although  a  Protestant,  and  was,  in  short,  the  only  man 
the  Association  could  reckon  upon  as  a  candidate.  Mr. 
O 'Gorman  Mahon  was  despatched  to  acquaint  him  with 
the  fact  of  his  nomination,  and  after  an  absence  of  two 
days,  returned  to  Dublin  with  the  astounding  intelligence, 
that  Major  McNamara's  obligations  to  Mr.  Fitzgerald  were 
such  as  to  prevent  him,  "  in  honor,  from  running  in  opposi- 
tion to  that  gentleman."  The  receipt  of  this  news  caused 
the  Association  the  deepest  vexation,  which  was  further 
increased  on  learning  that  Dean  O'Shaugnessy,  an  influen- 
tial clergyman  of  Ennis,  and  a  relative  of  Mr.  Fitzgerald, 
was  supposed  to  be  favorable  to  his  election.     "Without  the 


97 

co-operation  of  all  the  clergy,  the  Association  felt  the  con- 
test would  be  fruitless,  and  without  Dean  O'Shaugnessy's 
aid,  such  co-operation  could  hardly  be  attained.  Having 
announced  their  intention  of  opposing  Mr.  Fitzgerald's  re- 
turn, and  having  refused  to  drop  the  anti-ministerial  pledge, 
the  Associates  felt  obliged  to  proceed,  but  were  completely 
at  a  loss  for  a  nominee.  There  was  no  one  found  anxious 
to  be  a  member  of  Parliament.  In  this  dilemma,  a  lucky 
thought  of  O 'Gorman  Mahon  saved  the  character  of  the 
Association,  and  insured  the  speedy  passage  of  the  long- 
sought-for  act.  He  proposed  to  Mr.  O'Connell,  and  after- 
wards to  the  Association,  that  O'Connell  should  become  the 
candidate  of  the  Association,  and  if  elected,  should  in  his 
person  seek  to  establish  the  right  of  Catholics  to  seats  in 
Parliament.  It  was  a  bold  and  happy  thought,  as  the 
sequel  will  show.  The  Association  adopted,  viva  voce,  the 
motion ;  and  the  whole  empire  was  astonished  by  the  pub- 
lication of  the  following  address  to  the  electors,  promptly 
issued  by  O'Connell : — 

"TO  THE  ELECTORS  OF  THE  COUNTY  OF  CLARE. 

"  Dublin,  June,  1828. 
"  Fellow-Countrymen, — 

"  Your  county  wants  a  representative.  I  respectfully 
solicit  your  suffrages,  to  raise  me  to  that  station. 

"  Of  my  qualification  to  fill  that  station,  I  leave  you  to 
judge.  The  habits  of  public  speaking,  and  many,  many 
years  of  public  business,  render  me,  perhaps,  equally  suited 
w^ith  most  men  to  attend  to  the  interests  of  Ireland  in  Par- 
liament. 

"  You  will  be  told  I  am  not  qualified  to  be  elected ;  the 
assertion,  my  friends,  is  untrue. — I  am  qualified  to  be 
elected,  and  to  be  your  representative.  It  is  true  that  as  a 
Catholic,  I  cannot,  and  of  course  never  will,  take  the  oaths 
at  present  prescribed  to  members  of  Parliament;  but  the 
authority  which  created  these  oaths,  (the  Parliament,)  can 
abrogate  them :  and  I  entertain  a  confident  hope  that,  if 
you  elect  me,  the  most  bigoted  of  our  enemies  will  see  the 
necessity  of  removing  from  the  chosen  representative  of  the 
people,  "an  obstacle  which  would  prevent  him  from  doing 
his  duty  to  his  king  and  to  his  country. 

<'  The  oath  at  present  required  by  law  is,  *  that  the  sacrifice 
9 


98 

of  the  mass,  and  the  invocation  of  the  blessed  Virgin  Mary, 
and  other  saints,  as  now  practised  in  the  church  of  Rome, 
are  impious  and  idolatrous.'  Of  course  I  will  never  stain 
my  soul  with  such  an  oath :  I  leave  that  to  my  honorable 
opponent,  !Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald ;  he  has  often  taken  that 
horrible  oath ;  he  is  ready  to  take  it  again,  and  asks  your 
votes  to  enable  him  so  to  swear.  I  would  rather  be  torn  limb 
from  limb  than  take  it.  Electors  of  the  county  of  Clare ! 
choose  between  me,  who  abominates  that  oath,  and  Mr. 
Vesey  Fitzgerald,  who  has  sworn  it  full  twenty  times ! 
Return  me  to  ParUament,  and  it  is  probable  that  such  a 
blasphemous  oath  will  be  abolished  forever.  As  your 
representative,  I  will  try  the  question  with  the  friends  in 
ParHament  of  Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald. — They  may  send  me 
to  prison. — I  am  ready  to  go  there  to  promote  the  cause  of 
the  Catholics,  and  of  universal  liberty.  The  discussion 
which  the  attempt  to  exclude  your  representative  from  the 
House  of  Commons  must  excite,  will  create  a  sensation  all 
over  Europe,  and  produce  such  a  burst  of  contemptuous 
indisTiation  against  British  bi^otn',  in  ever\'  enlio^htened 
country  in  the  world,  that  the  voice  of  all  the  great  and 
good  in  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  being  joined  to  the 
universal  shout  of  the  nations  of  the  earth,  will  overpower 
even'^  opposition,  and  render  it  impossible  for  Peel  and 
Wellington  any  longer  to  close  the  doors  of  the  constitution 
against  the  Catholics  of  Ireland. 

"  Electors  of  the  county  of  Clare  ;  ^Ir.  Vesey  Fitzgerald 
claims  as  his  only  merit,  that  he  is  a  friend  to  the  Catho- 
lics— ^why,  I  am  a  Catholic  myself;  and  if  he  be  sincerely 
our  friend,  let  him  vote  for  me,  and  raise  before  the  British 
empire  the  Catholic  question  in  my  humble  person,  in  the 
way  most  propitious  to  my  final  success.  But  no,  fellow- 
countn-men,  no ;  he  will  make  no  sacrifice  to  that  cause ; 
he  will  call  himself  your  friend,  and  act  the  part  of  your 
worst  and  most  unrelentine  enemy. 

"  I  do  not  Hke  to  give  the  epitome  of  his  political  life ; 
yet,  when  the  present  occasion  so  loudly  calls  for  it,  I  cannot 
refrain.  He  took  ofRce  under  Perceval, — ^under  that  Perce- 
val who  obtained  power  by  raisings  the  base,  bloody,  and 
unchristian  cry-  of '  Xo  Poper}- ,*  in  England. 

"  He  had  the  nomination  of  a  member  to  serve  for  the 
borough  of  Ennis.  He  nominated  Mr.  Spencer  Perceval, 
then  a  decided  opponent  of  the  CathoHcs. 


99 

"  He  voted  on  the  East  Retford  bill,  for  a  measure  that 
would  put  two  virulent  enemies  of  the  Catholics  into  Par- 
liament. 

"  In  the  case  of  the  Protestant  Dissenters  in  England,  he 
voted  for  their  exclusion,  that  is,  against  the  principle  of  the 
freedom  of  conscience  ; — that  sacred  principle  which  the 
Catholics  of  Ireland  have  ever  cultivated  and  cherished,  on 
which  we  framed  our  rights  to  emancipation. 

"  Finally,  he  voted  for  the  suppression  of  the  Catholic 
Association  of  Ireland. 

"  And,  after  this,  sacred  Heaven  !  he  calls  himself  a  friend 
to  the  Catholics. 

"  He  is  the  allv  and  coUeaarue  of  the  Duke  of  Welling-ton 
and  Mr.  Peel ;  he  is  their  partner  in  power ;  they  are,  you 
know,  the  most  bitter,  persevering,  and  unmitigated  enemies 
of  the  Catholics ;  and,  after  all  this,  he,  the  partner  of  our 
bitterest  and  unrelenting  enemies,  calls  himself  the  friend 
of  the  Catholics  of  Ireland. 

"  Having  thus  traced  a  few  of  the  demerits  of  my  right 
honourable  opponent,  what  shall  I  say  for  myself? 

"  I  appeal  to  my  past  life  for  my  unremitting  and  disin- 
terested attachment  to  the  religion  and  liberties  of  CathoHc 
Ireland. 

"  If  you  return  me  to  Parliament,  I  pledge  myself  to  vote 
for  every  measure  favorable  to  radical  reform  in  the  repre- 
sentative svstem,  so  that  the  House  of  Commons  may  truly, 
as  our  Catholic  ancestors  intended  it  should  do,  represent 
all  the  people. 

"  To  vote  for  the  repeal  of  the  Vestry  bill,  the  sub-letting 
act,  and  the  Grand  Jury  laws. 

"  To  vote  for  the  diminution  and  more  equal  distribution 
of  the  overgro^^Tl  wealth  of  the  established  church  in  Ireland, 
so  that  the  surplus  may  be  restored  to  the  sustentation  of 
tlie  poor,  the  aged,  and  the  infirm. 

"  To  vote  for  every  measure  of  retrenchment  and  reduction 
of  the  national  expenditure,  so  as  to  relieve  the  people  from 
the  burdens  of  taxation,  and  to  bring  the  question  of  the 
repeal  of  the  Union,  at  the  earliest  possible  period,  before 
the  consideration  of  the  legislature. 

"  Electors  of  the  county  of  Clare  I  choose  between  me  and 
Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald ;  choose  bet^veen  him  who  has  so 
long  cultivated  his  ow^l  interest,  and  one  who  seeks  only  to 
ad\'ance  ^'ours:  choose  between  tlie  s\Mjrn  libeller  of  the 


100 

Catholic  faith,  and  one  who  has  devoted  his  early  life  to 
your  cause ;  who  has  consumed  his  manhood  in  a  struggle 
for  your  liberties,  and  who  has  ever  lived,  and  is  ready  to 
die  for  the  integrity,  the  honor,  the  purity,  of  the  Catholic 
faith,  and  the  promotion  of  Irish  freedom  and  happiness. 

"  Your  faithful  servant, 

"Daniel  O'Connell." 

It  is  impossible  adequately  to  conceive  the  enthusiasm 
caused  by  this  resolution  amongst  those  to  whom  it  was 
thus  announced.  The  friends  of  Mr.  Fitzgerald  could 
scarcely  believe  it  to  be  the  serious  intention  of  the  Asso- 
ciation, until  the  arrival  of  Messrs.  Steele  and  O'Gorman 
Mahon,  as  precursors  of  the  coming  of  the  great  agitator, 
aroused  them  to  the  necessity  of  using  every  exertion  within 
their  means. 

The  names  of  these  gentlemen  being  historically  asso- 
ciated with  that  of  a  most  interesting  period  of  O'Connell's 
life,  a  digression  explanatory  of  their  standing  and  charac- 
ter, may  not  be  out  of  place,  ere  we  meet  the  "  Liberator" 
on  the  hustings.  Both  yet  live — but  alas !  how  sundered 
and  how  separated.  Steele  is  found  by  the  side  of  his 
leader  and  companion,  while  Mahon,  fallen  from  his  high 

estate,  is .     Both,  however,  must  be  sketched  upon 

our  canvass ;   less  fully,  to  be  sure,  than  they  deserve,  but 
faithful  at  least  even  in  outline. 

Mr.  Thomas  Steele  is  by  birth  a  native  of  Clare.  His 
family  are  of  some  antiquity  in  that  county,  and  of  highly 
respectable  fortune.  He  was  born  heir  to  an  extensive  and 
.valuable  property,  which  he  has  spent  to  the  last  farthing 
upon  scientific  experiments,  and  in  patriotic  adventures. 
His  education  was  commenced  in  Trinity  College,  where 
he  obtained  the  degree  of  B.  A.,  and  advocated  Catholic 
Emancipation.  From  thence  he  went  to  Cambridge  and 
entered  Magdalen  College.  A  characteristic  anecdote  is 
related  of  the  manner  in  which  he  decided  between  the 
relative  advantages  of  studying  at  Oxford,  and  on  the 
Cam.  Having  arrived  in  London  without  deciding  on  this 
point,  he  sat  one  evening  at  the  door  of  his  hotel  in  Holborn, 
and  seeing  a  stage-coach,  marked  "  Cambridge  "  pass  by,  he 
called  to  the  driver,  ordered  his  trunk,  and  jumped  into  the 
vehicle.  Here,  he  could  more  congenially,  than  in  "  Old 
Trinity,"   devote   his   time   to   his   favorite   mathematical 


101 

studies.    He  left  this  university  with  the  degree  of  M.  A.,  ac- 
companied by  the  friendship  of  its  most  illustrious  inmates. 

Returning  to  Ireland,  the  possessor  of  a  comfortable  for- 
tune, he  had  resolved  not  to  adopt  any  profession.  The  first 
evidence  of  his  aspirations  for  fame  on  record,  was  his  dar- 
ing conduct  in  the  melee  of  the  Trocadero.  With  Sir  Robert 
Wilson,  and  other  enthusiastic  Irishmen,  he  had  entered  all 
soul  into  the  Spanish  struggle  for  independence,  which 
occupied  the  years  of  1820 — 3.  From  the  resources  of  his 
private  fortune,  he  had  often  drawn  liberally  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  public  cause,  and  on  abandoning  that  desperate 
enterprise,  he  found  himself  surrounded  by  so  many  fellow- 
sufferers,  that  he  heavily  mortgaged  his  property  to  allevi- 
ate their  distresses.  The  knavery  of  a  young  lawyer,  his 
relative,  whom  he  had  placed  as  agent  over  his  estates,  still 
further  involved  him  in  debt,  and  it  was  with  little  surprise 
that,  a  short  time  since,  those  who  knew  his  personal  history, 
heard  of  his  having  availed  himself  of  the  provisions  of  the 
"  insolvent  act."  It  must  have  been  a  hard  struggle  that 
reduced  him  to  such  extremity ;  even  the  Commissioner 
who  presided,  bore  willing  testimony  to  his  honorable  char- 
acter, and  declared  him  stainless  from  the  ordeal. 

Mr.  Steele's  scientific  reputation  stands  deservedly  high ; 
his  improvements  in  the  diving-bell,  his  plan  for  reclaiming 
the  mudlands  and  improving  the  navigation  of  his  native 
Shannon,  as  also  his  scheme  for  supplying  Dublin  with 
water  through  the  valley  of  the  Liffey,  are  acknowledged 
by  all  competent  judges,  to  be  highly  useful  and  strikingly 
able  projects.  In  fortification  and  engineering,  indeed,  in 
almost  every  branch  of  mathematical  science,  he  has  few,  if 
any,  superiors  in  the  empire. 

In  person,  Mr.  Steele  has  nothing  of  the  Adonis  in  his 
mould,  but  he  is  far  from  being  insensible  to  the  soft  influ- 
ences of  the  gentler  sex.  On  this  point  he  is  perfectly 
Quixotic;  his  "silent  love"  is  proverbial;  when  smitten 
with  the  charms  of  some  fair  Irish  girl,  he  "  never  names 
her,  never,"  but  lets 

" Concealment,  like  a  v^orm  in  the  bud, 

Prey  upon  his  damask  cheek." 

On  more  than  one  occasion,  when  smitten  with  peculiar 

adoration,  he  has  retired  to  his  cot  amidst  the  hills  of  Wick- 
9# 


102 

low,  and  hermit-like,  sighed  away  his  soul  "  to  the  listening 
deer."  Whehever  he  has  occasion  to  mention  the  ladies, 
he  does  so  in  language  equally  enthusiastic  and  respectful; 
in  a  word,  he  seems  to  have  been  made  for  medioBval  times, 
not  for  ours.  There  is  in  his  nature  an  enthusiasm  so 
lofty,  a  sincerity  so  sincere,  a  sense  of  honor  so  keen,  a 
delicacy  and  a  daring  so  extreme,  that,  of  him  more  than 
any  other  man  of  the  nineteenth  century,  may  it  be  said, — 
"  we  shall  not  look  upon  his  like  again." 

But  my  readers  must  not  suppose  by  the  foregoing 
sketch,  that  I  regard  Mr.  Steele  as  an  impracticable 
being.  So  far  from  it,  that  there  is  no  man  more  easily 
advised,  none  who  possesses  less  egotism  or  self-opinion. 
His  nice  sense  of  principle  clothes  with  respect  and  will 
perpetuate  his  name  to  the  latest  generation  of  Ireland's 
sons.  His  perpetual  remembrance  of  his  duty  ;  the  mili- 
tary devotedness  with  which  he  follows  the  beck  of  O'Con- 
nell,  cause  him  to  repress  his  natural  impetuosity,  which, 
under  a  less  venerated  leader,  would  often  break  forth,  and 
occasion  mischief.  It  is  impossible  for  a  selfish  nature  to 
realize  what  manner  of  man  Mr.  Steele  is,  and,  alas  !  how 
few  who  are  not  so,  have  we  in  the  nineteenth  century  to 
appreciate  his  "  erratic  virtue,"  to  honor  his  consistent  and 
unparalleled  disinterestedness. 

Of  Mr.  Steele's  coadjutor  in  the  canvass  of  Clare,  Mr. 
O'GoRMAN  Mahon,  we  desire  to  say  but  little.  It  is  one 
of  the  most  painful  tasks  which  the  pen  of  a  genial  chroni- 
cler can  undertake,  to  enumerate  the  early  services  of  one 
who  afterwards  becomes  a  traitor  to  his  country  and  to  his 
own  convictions.  Such,  unhappily,  was  the  case  with  him 
of  whom  I  am  now  speaking.  There  was  a  time — which 
can  never  come  again — when  few  men  stood  so  high  in  the 
estimation  of  his  country,  and  of  all  who  have  forfeited  her 
good  will,  few  have  sunk  so  low.  Blinded  by  a  mali- 
cious anger,  he  has  of  late  irrevocably  stained  his  name 
by  heaping  calumny  on  his  early  friend,  Steele,  in  a  court 
of  justice,  in  the  moment  of  his  humiliation.  The  reader 
would  not  thank  me  for  the  details  of  that  scene. 

In  182S,  O'Gorman  Mahon  was  a  young  and  promising 
man.  Of  great  personal  grace,  manly  form,  and  undoubted 
courage,  he  was  well  calculated  for  an  efficient  canvasser 
in  an  Irish  contested  election.  He  boasts  the  inheritance 
of  undiluted  Celtic  blood,  and  no  man  represents  more  truly 


103 

in  outward  form,  the  beau  ideal  of  a  Milesian  aristocracy,  as 
handed  down  by  history  and  tradition,  than  does  he.  His 
address  is  good,  his  language  select  and  appropriate,  yet  it 
were  an  injustice  to  style  it  eloquent.  In  fashionable  life, 
he  is  the  idol  of  the  ladies  and  the  envy  of  the  men  ;  he  ex- 
celled in  aii  manly  accomplishments,  and  showeth  in  all  his 
actions  that  bonko?nmie  so  irresistible  in  securing  the  affec- 
tions of  an  Irish  peasant.  When  a  member  of  the  British 
Parliament,  he  usually  entered  the  Commons  dressed  in  the 
antiquated  style  of  an  Irish  country  gentleman,  and  attracted 
no  inconsiderable  share  of  ridicule.  On  a  certain  occasion, 
while  sitting  in  a  club-room  adjacent  to  St.  Stephen's,  he 
had  the  pleasure  to  hear  himself  criticised  very  elaborately 
by  a  couple  of  fashionables  at  a  distant  table.  After  dissecting 
"  his  barbarous  style  of  dress"  and  swaggering  carriage,  one  of 
them  undertook  to  wager  that  he  must  be  a  poltroon.  This 
startled  his  Milesian  blood,  and  striding  over  to  this  imprudent 
personage,  he  looked  him  sternly  in  the  face  for  a  moment, 
handed  him  his  card,  and  gave  him  the  alternative  of  an  im- 
mediate challenge,  or  an  apology  on  his  knees  before  the 
club.  The  cockney,  after  a  good  deal  of  hesitation,  thought 
the  latter  the  better  way  of  escaping  from  the  dilemma. 

Such,  in  outline,  were  the  two  men  who  now  agitated  the 
constituency  of  Clare,  from  the  highest  to  the  humblest  of  its 
members.  Their  zeal  never  tired — their  bodies  needed  not 
rest,  nor  their  thoughts  sleep ;  they  travelled,  talked,  reasoned, 
appealed ;  apathy  disappeared  at  their  approach,  and  hostility 
was  converted  into  generous  co-operation.  But  they  were 
not  alone  in  the  herculean  enterprise.  Mr.  Lawless  was  also 
in  the  field,  a  formidable  assistant ;  and  Mr.  Ronayne,^  of 
Clonmei,  exerted  himself  arduously  in  haranguing  the  people 
in  their  native,  glorious  Gaelic.  In  the  midst  of  the  exer- 
tions of  these  gentlemen,  there  arrived  in  Ennis  a  coadjutor 
of  no  secondary  order,  in  the  person  of  Father  Maguire,  the 
priest  of  Ballinamore,  and  one  of  the  first  scholars  and  lo- 
gicians of  the  age. 

His  fame  as  a  controvertist  had  been  already  established 
at  the  expense  of  more  than  one  champion  of  Protestantism. 
His  famous  controversy  with  the  Rev.  Alexander  Pope,  in. 
1SS7,  had  been  regarded  by  the  Catholic  church  as  a  com- 
plete triumph,  while  the  Catholics  of  Ireland  were  particu- 

*  This  gentleman  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  his  namesake, 
mentioned  in  note,  p.  74, 


104 

larly  elated  at  its  result.  At  several  of  their  meetings,  into 
which  this  oral  discussion  was  protracted,  Mr.  O'Connell 
frequently  acted  as  chairman,  on  behalf  of  Father  Maguire, 
and  at  the  close  declared  that  "  a  simple,  unpretending 
priest,  from  the  bogs  of  Leitrim,"  had  given  a  death-blow  to 
the  doctrines  of  the  established  church.  Armed  with  such 
recommendations,  and,  perhaps,  desirous  to  counteract  the 
neutrality  of  Dean  O'Shaugnessy,  Father  Maguire  volun- 
teered to  pay  an  electioneering  visit  to  Clare,  which  was 
gladly  accepted  of  by  the  Catholic  Association.  And  here, 
if  any  cold-blooded  rationalist,  or  sneering  sectary  inquires 
whether  this  was  the  duty  of  a  clergyman,  in  this  case,  I 
answer  him  boldly  that  it  was.  We  can  admire  those 
recluses  of  the  Peninsula,  who  seized  the  swords  of  the 
slaughtered  peasantry,  to  resist  the  influx  of  Gallic  inva- 
sion ;  we  admire  the  heroism  of  those  Vendean  ecclesias- 
tics who  aroused  their  flocks  to  combat  against  the  bloody 
dynasty  of  the  llluminati,  at  the  peril  of  extermination  ; 
our  bosoms  glow  with  admiration  when  we  read  of  those 
fields  of  death,  on  which  millions  are  mowed  down  with  a 
scythe  of  flame,  where  defenceless  priests  walk  intrepidly 
through  the  dying  and  the  dead,  anointing  with  holy  crism 
the  expiring  patriot  soldier.  If  these  things  be  admirable, 
as  indeed  they  are  to  men  of  feeling,  why  should  we  blame 
the  man  who,  ordained  to  the  service  of  God,  and  placed  as 
a  sentinel  over  man,  beholding  the  slavery  or  liberty  of  his 
charge  at  hand,  raises  his  voice  or  his  hand  to  place  them 
beyond  the  influence  of  chains,  ignorance  and  poverty  ? 
Mere  party  politics  will  defile  a  robe  consecrated  to  the 
altar;  but  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  sublime  science  in  poli- 
tics— a  science  of  justice  and  mercy,  of  suffering  or  comfort, 
life  or  death.  The  priesthood  of  Ireland  are  essentially  a 
popular  body,  by  birth,  disposition  and  inheritance; — when 
they  assumed  holy  orders,  they  did  not  cease  to  be  sons  of 
Ireland,  nor  to  feel,  and  think,  and  act  for  her  welfare.  It 
was  thus  Dr.  Doyle  stamped  immortality  on  his  fame — it 
was  thus  that  Mac  Hale  became  a  consecrated  name  in 
the  Irish  annals  of  our  time — it  was  thus  that  Father  Ma- 
guire felt,  when  he  arrived  in  Clare  to  co-operate  for  the 
election  of  O'Connell.  Nor  was  his  visit  a  useless  one. 
His  priestly  character,  his  powerful  logic,  racy  and  plain 
language,  and  his  theological  reputation  gave  him  great  ad- 
vantages ;  and  whilst  the  lay  canvassers  merit  all  praise, 


10§ 

there  was,  perhaps,  no  individual  amongst  them,  whose 
presence  exercised  an  influence  so  beneficial  as  Father 
Mag-uires.  By  these  hands  were  those  elements  of  strength, 
gathered  together,  which,  bursting  from  the  hustings  of 
Ennis,  broke  down  the  policy  of  the  Reformation,  altered 
the  constitution  of  England,  and  gave  liberty  of  conscience 
to  the  Catholic  millions  and  the  dissenters  of  the  whole  em- 
pire. The  names  of  these  men  are  deserving  of  everlasting 
remembrance  ;  they  will  be  sought  out  by  the  future  his- 
torians as  deserving  the  highest  panegyrism  ;  for  through 
them  O'Connell  was  elected,  and  through  him  British  in- 
tolerance received  its  death-blow. 

The  day  of  election  being  near  at  hand,  Mr.  Shiel,  ap* 
pointed  counsel  for  Mr.  O'Connell,  left  Dublin  for  the 
scene  of  action.  On  arriving  at  Ennis,  he  ascertained  that 
the  tenantry  of  Sir  Edward  O'Brien  (who,  although  a 
Catholic,  refused  to  support  Mr.  O'Connell)  had  been 
brought  to  their  master's  way  of  thinking,  and  were  pledged 
to  vote  for  Mr.  Fitzgerald.  The  energetic  counsellor  saw 
there  was  no  time  to  be  lost ;  it  was  Saturday  evening,  but 
he  started  immediately,  and  after  travelling  from  twilight 
until  nearly  noon,  he  arrived  at  the  humble  mountain 
chapel  of  Corrofin,  where  the  electors  he  sought  were  then 
at  mass.  After  the  sacrifice  had  been  offered,  the  celebrant 
introduced  him.  by  a  few  remarks  in  Gaelic,  to  the  congre- 
gation. They  were  old  men  and  young,  widows,  wives, 
and  children  gathered  before  the  low  door  of  that  rugged 
temple.  It  was  a  wild  scene,  well  suited  to  the  genius  of 
the  spokesman  ;  he  was  amid  the  venerable  hills  of  Tho- 
mond,  and  his  soul,  like  Ossian's,  went  abroad  amongst  the 
children  of  the  mountains.  Visions  of  glory  rolled  along 
their  summits,  studding  the  sky  with  the  sparkling  of  armor 
and  the  clashing  of  shields.  The  orator's  chest  heaved,  his 
lips  trembled,  his  eye  fired,  and  then,  after  a  long  pause,  as 
if  for  breathing,  out  rushed  the  language  of  inspiration, 
pouring  like  a  torrent  fresh  from  a  long  pent-up  cavern, 
ind  overturning  every  obstacle  in  its  career.  The  auditory 
felt  the  inspiration  that  burned  or  melted  in  his  words ; 
ihey  were  swayed  before  his  breath,  as  forest  trees  wave  in 
;he  tempest ;  they  yielded  to  the  magic  of  oratory,  and  fol- 
j^wed  the  enthusiastic  speaker,  on  the  morrow,  to  the  polls. 

This  scene  at  the  chapel  of  Corrofin  could  only  be  ex« 
ceeded  by  that  which  was  enacted  in  the  streets  of  Ennis^ 


106 

on  the  arrival  of  Mr.  O'Connell.  Those  who  were  eye- 
witnesses  have  never  lost  the  actual  sight,  while  no  man 
hath  attempted  to  describe  it ;  even  Shiel,  who  pounced 
upon  every  incident  calculated  to  give  a  pictorial  interest 
to  the  sameness  of  political  advocacy,  has  left  that  subject 
untouched  because  of  its  magnitude.  The  streets  were 
crowded ;  the  thoroughfares  leading  to  the  town  were 
crowded  ;  the  ladies  of  the  adjacent  country  graced  the  win- 
dows and  balconies ;  the  housetops  were  bristling  with  hu- 
man bodies,  and  the  prolonged  cheers  of  the  vast  throngs 
surged  like  the  Atlantic  upon  a  rocky  shore  at  night — loud, 
awful  and  mysterious.  At  length  O'Connell  arrived,  and 
then  the  voices  of  the  multitude  rose  in  simultaneous  cheers, 
deafening  each  other.  Who,  in  such  an  hour,  but  would 
feel  himself  a  conqueror  ? 

On  the  appointed  day,  the  Court  House  was  besieged 
with  persons  anxious  for  admittance.  The  sheriff  read  the 
writ  of  election.  Beside  him,  on  the  left,  stood  Mr.  Vesey 
Fitzgerald,  surrounded  by  the  chief  gentlemen  of  Clare. 
On  the  opposite  side  appeared  the  stalwart  form  and  laugh- 
ing countenance  of  Mr.  O'Connell,  with  more  frieze  coats 
than  broadcloth  in  his  body-guard.  There  was  a  gentle- 
man in  tabinet,  however,  who  had  perched  himself,  by 
a  feat  of  unusual  agility,  upon  a  cross-beam  of  the  court, 
that  rendered  him  no  small  service.  This  was  no  other 
than  Mr.  O'Gorman  Mahon.  The  high  sheriff,  observing 
the  attention  he  attracted,  rather  tartly  desired  him  to  take 
off  a  broad  green  badge,  from  which  hung  the  medal  of  the 
order  of  Liberators  :  "  I  tell  that  gentleman  there,"  cried 
the  functionary,  "  to  take  off  that  badge."  There  was  a 
brief  pause,  when  Mahon  slowly  replied — "  This  gentle- 
man tells  that  gentleman,  that  if  that  gentleman  presumes 
to  touch  this  gentleman,  this  gentleman  will  defend  him- 
self against  that  gentleman  or  any  other  gentleman  while 
he  has  got  the  arm  of  a  gentleman  to  protect  him." 
This  reply  struck  dumb  the  pompous  sheriff,  a  loud  cheer 
burst  from  the  body  of  the  court,  and  a  look  of  deep  vexa- 
tion fastened  upon  the  countenances  of  the  ministerial  can- 
didate and  his  friends.  When  silence  was  obtained.  Sir  Ed- 
ward O'Brien  proposed,  and  Sir  A.  Fitzgerald  seconded 
the  nomination  of  Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald,  "  as  a  fit  and  proper 
person"  to  represent  the  county  of  Clare  in  Parliament. 
Mr.  O'Gorman  Mahon  then  proposed,  and  Mr.  Steele  sec- 


107 

onded  the  nomination  of  Daniel  O'Connell  in  the  same 
words.  The  candidates  then  addressed  the  electors — Mr. 
Fitzgerald  having  the  precedence.  His  speech  was  allowed 
upon  all  hands  to  be  a  very  able  and  appropriate  one  ;  his 
modest  allusion  to  his  own  services  in  the  Catholic  cause, 
and  to  those  of  his  father,  (at  that  time  lying  on  his  death- 
bed,) in  the  days  of  the  disastrous  union,  softened  every 
bosom  towards  him.  There  was  an  amiable  sincerity  in 
all  he  said,  which  evidently  impressed  the  vast  assemblage 
within  the  walls,  who  saluted  him,  on  sitting  down,  with 
renewed  and  enthusiastic  approval.  Mr.  O'Connell  suc- 
ceeded, and  delivered  one  of  those  long  and  magnificent 
speeches  by  which  he  has  bound  to  himself  the  heart  of 
Ireland,  so  that  no  man  can  take  it  from  him.  He  was 
everything  by  turns — sportive  and  sad,  severe  and  charita- 
ble, and  the  people  doubled  with  him  as  supple  as  young 
hares  sporting  on  a  fallow.  They  were  now  roused  up  to 
the  most  indignant  pitch  of  patriotic  hatred,  and  again 
melted  into  feminine  softness  by  the  pathos  of  their  favorite. 
After  a  brief  exordium,  he  had  them  all  his  own  way,  and 
ne  took  good  care  to  preserve  his  advantage.  Of  that  effort 
all  description  would  be  needless,  as  all  praise  would  be  in 
vain.  It  will  suffice  to  say,  that  after  one  of  the  closest 
contests  in  the  annals  of  electioneering,  Daniel  O'Connell 
was  declared  by  the  high  sheriff  "duly  elected"  for  the 
county  of  Clare.  The  excitement  died  away — the  people 
returned  to  their  homes — the  gentry  to  lament  their  over- 
throw, and  O'Connell  to  plead  before  the  bar  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  for  the  recognition  of  the  religious  rights  and 
civil  liberties  of  his  countrymen.  His  name  was  not  a 
stranger  to  their  ears,  for  years  before  he  entered  that 
assembly,  his  spirit  had  disturbed  its  bigotry,  and  shaken 
on  its  escutcheoned  pillars,  the  antique  cobwebs  of  con- 
servatism. 

Before,  however,  he  could  enter  Parliament,  the  ministry 
resolved  to  force  through  a  bill  of  emancipation  ;  and  thus 
they  succeeded  in  depriving  him  of  the  honor  of  the 
victory,  though  they  could  not  shield  themselves  from  the 
ignominy  of  defeat. 

The  autumn  of  1828  beheld  the  Irish  nation  on  the  verge 
of  civil  war.  The  commander  of  the  forces  communicated 
to  the  ministry  the  fearful  news,  that  the  loyalty  of  the 
army  could  not  be  depended  on.     Aggregate  meetings,  pa- 


108 

rochial  meetings,  and  every  other  mode  of  evading  coercive 
law,  was  resorted  to ;  and  thie  fires  of  a  new  rebellion  began 
to  gleam  forth  from  the  bustle  and  confusion  of  the  vast 
open  air  demonstrations,  in  which  the  people  thrust  forth 
their  thousand  hands.  The  rulers  of  the  empire  became, 
or  affected  to  be,  really  alarmed.  A  call  of  the  Houses  of 
Parliament  was  accordingly  made,  for  an  early  day  in  the 
ensuing  year ;  and  on  the  5th  of  March,  the  first  day  of 
their  assembling,  Mr.  Peel  moved  a  committee  of  the  whole 
house,  to  go  into  a  "  consideration  of  the  civil  disabilities 
of  his  Majesty's  Roman  Catholic  subjects."  This  motion, 
after  a  two-days'  debate,  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  188. 
On  the  10th  of  March,  the  bill  was  read  for  the  first  time, 
and  passed  without  opposition,  such  being  the  arrangement 
entered  into  while  in  committee.  But  even  in  five  days, 
the  ancient  bigotry  of  the  land  had  been  aroused  ;  nine 
hundred  and  fifty-seven  petitions  had  already  been  present- 
ed against  it ;  that  from  the  city  of  London  was  signed  by 
more  than  "an  hundred  thousand  freeholders."^  On  the 
17th  it  passed  to  a  second  reading,  and  on  the  30th  to  a 
third,  with  large  majorities  in  each  stage  of  debate.  Out 
of  320  members  who  voted  on  the  final  reading,  178  were 
in  its  favor.  On  the  31st  of  March  it  was  carried  to  the 
Lords  by  Mr.  Peel,  and  instantly  read  a  first  time  ;  and 
two  days  later,  (on  the  second  of  April,)  it  was  read  a 
second  time,  on  motion  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington ;  a 
bitterly  contested  debate  of  three  days  followed  ;  on  the 
10th,  it  was  read  a  third  time,  and  passed  by  a  majority  of 
104.  Three  days  later,  it  received  the  royal  assent — and 
in  three  more,  the  unanimous  welcome  of  the  Irish  Catho- 
lics, as  well  as  of  all  their  brethren  in  the  three  kingdoms, 
and  of  the  dissenters. 

Thus  was  proposed,  debated  and  enacted,  in  the  brief 
space  of  five  weeks,  one  of  the  most  important  measures 
ever  considered  by  a  British  Parliament.  From  the  time 
of  the  Revolution,  there  had  been  no  such  change  effected ; 
for  this  was,  in  reality,  an  alteration  of  the  Constitution. 
Great  popular  concessions  had  been  made,  from  the  days 
of  King  John,  by  bad  or  weak  monarchs;  able  and  popular 
senators  had  carried  through  Parliament  some  miniature 
reforms  ;  but  with  the  exception  of  the  Bill  of  Rights,  there 

*  Vide  Croly's  «  George  the  Fourth." 


109 

is  no  legal  advance  of  the  legislature  to  be  at  all  compared, 
in  the  extent  of  its  operations,  or  in  the  importance  of  its 
results,  with  the  act  of  Catholic  emancipation.  When  we 
consider  the  vast  number  of  persons  suddenly  restored  to 
their  civil  rights,  from  a  state  of  hereditary  outlawry,  we 
cannot  but  regard  with  awe  and  admiration  the  unconquer- 
able spirit  of  the  man,  who  trampled  upon  custom,  prejudice 
and  intolerance,  and  forced  the  minions  of  sectarian  ascen- 
dancy to  destroy  its  immunities,  and  break  down  the  bulky 
exclusiveness  with  which  it  had,  year  after  year,  and  age 
after  age,  surrounded  the  franchise,  and  laden  down  the 
civil  and  social  rights  of  the  people.  The  British  Empire 
probably  contained,  at  that  time,  150,000,000   of  souls,  or 

'about  one  fifth  of  the  people  of  the  earth.  Of  these  a  mere 
moiety  belonged  to  the  Church  of  England,  and  an  honest 
man  of  any  other  creed  could  not  consistently  take  the  test 

/Oath,  or  the  oath  of  supremacy.  He  who  believed  in  the 
apostleship  of  Knox,  and  he  who  held  the  primacy  of  Saint 
Peter ;  the  disciple  of  Priestly,  the  proselyte  of  Paine,  the 
follower  of  Wesley,  could  never  in  conscience  swear  that 
in  the  person  of  the  lecherous  and  foppish  George  the 
Fourth,  they  recognized  the  deputy  of  the  All-Pure,  and 
the  visible  head  of  the  only  true  church.  In  short,  no 
matter  what  the  difference  between  their  dissent  from  the 
Thirty-Nine  Articles,  if  they  were  in  earnest  in  their  an- 
tipathy to  that  definition  of  the  faith  of  the  establishment, 
they  could  not  swear  to  the  contrary,  in  truth  or  with  a 
safe  conscience.  When,  therefore,  Daniel  O'Connell  liber- 
ated the  Catholic,  he  by  the  same  blow  struck  off' the  fetters 
from  the  dissenter,  and  released  private  judgment  from  its 
ancient  disabilities.  One  fifth  of  the  people  of  the  entire 
world  are  now  his  debtors  for  the  acknowledgment  of  the 
principle  and  practice  of  religious  toleration  by  their  impe- 
rial legislature,  and  crown. 

While  the  measure  of  emancipation  was  calculated  to 
bestow  so  many  and  such  extensive  benefits  on  the  whole 
empire,  the  ministry,  with  mean  dexterity,  attached  to  it  a 
clause  by  which  Mr.  O'Connell  was  deprived  of  its  benefits, 
he  having  been  elected  previous  to  its  enactment.  The 
stor^r  of  this  petty  insult  is  as  follows  : — 

On  Wednesday,  the  5th  of  March,  1829,  a  petition  hav- 
ing been  presented  against  Mr.  O'Connell's  return,  a  par- 
liamentary committee  met  to  take  into  consideration  that 


110 

gentleman's  eligibility  to  sit  for  Clare.  Some  days  pre- 
viously, he  had  published  an  elaborate  legal  argument, 
proving  his  perfect  right  so  to  do.  His  counsel  before  the 
committee  were  Mr.  F.  Pollock,  Charles  Phillips,  Mr. 
Alderson,  and  Mr.  Lynch.  Those  of  the  petitioners  were 
Messrs.  Harrison,  Adams  and  Doherty.  The  proceedings 
of  this  committee  are  so  well  described  in  the  London 
papers,  and  are  of  themselves  so  important,  that  I  cannot 
refrain  from  giving  them  in  detail. 

"  Mr.  Walmesley,  the  clerk  of  the  committee,  read  the 
petition  against  the  return  of  Mr.  O'Connell,  which  set 
forth  that  on  the  hustings  he  (Mr.  O'Connell)  said  he  was 
'a  Roman  Catholic,  and  would  so  continue  till  the  end  of 
his  life  ;'  that  '  he  would  never  take  the  oaths,'  &c.  It  also 
detailed  the  placards,  acts  of  intimidation,  commands  of 
'  vote  for  your  religion,'  &c. 

Mr.  Harrison  asked  whether  it  was  requisite  to  read  the 
whole  of  the  petition  ?  All  the  allegations  were  abandoned 
except  that  as  to  the  eligibility  of  Mr.  O'Connell.  The 
question,  in  fact,  reduced  itself  to  a  question  of  law. 

The  Chairman,  after  consulting  with  the  committee,  ac- 
quiesced. ^  _    . 

Mr.  Harrison  then  said,  that  he  had  made  a  proposition 
to  the  counsel  of  Mr.  O'Connell.  He  was  instructed  to 
submit,  that  Mr.  O'Connell  was  ineligible  to  sit  as  a  mem- 
ber, and  therefore  to  be  elected.  He  had,  consequently,  to 
urge  on  the  committee  to  direct  the  inquiry  first  to  be  made, 
whether  Mr.  O'Connell  was  eligible  ?  If  the  question  were 
decided  against  him,  such  decision  would  close  his  case, 
for  all  depended  on  that  question.  He  quoted  several  cases 
from  Douglas'  Reports  and  Election  Law,  to  show  that  the 
committee,  where  there  were  several  points  of  inquiry,  had 
frequently  decided  that  the  material  point,  whether  of  law 
or  otherwise,  should  be  first  settled.  It  would  materially 
save  the  labor  of  the  committee  if  this  course  were  pursued. 
The  only  question  he  and  his  friends  had  to  raise  was, 
whether  Mr.  O'Connell  was  eligible?  If  Mr.  O'Connell 
were  not  eligible,  then  it  remained  for  him  to  show  that 
Mr.  O'Connell  was  a  Roman  Catholic — that  the  fact  was 
notorious — and  that  the  election  proceeded  on  the  notoriety 
of  such  fact. 

Mr.  Adam  spoke  to  the  like  effect,  observing,  that  by  the 


Ill 

committee  coming  to  such  decision,  the  time  would  be  ma- 
terially saved. 

Mr.  F.  Pollock,  on  the  part  of  Mr.  O'Connell,  complained 
of  being  taken  somewhat  by  surprise,  and  of  the  want  of 
courtesy  in  its  not  having  been  communicated  to  him  what 
course  would  be  pursued.  His  learned  friend  had  chosen 
to  assume  that  Mr.  O'Connell  was  a  Roman  Catholic;  and 
on  that  was  to  be  raised  a  dry  abstract  question  of  law, 
without  any  knowledge  of  the  facts  on  which  that  barren 
question  was  to  be  raised.  There  was  new  law,  too,  pro- 
nounced— that  Mr.  O'Connell  being  a  Roman  Catholic,  as 
was  assumed,  was  ineligible  to  be  elected.  But  '  Roman 
Catholic' — he  had  read  all  the  acts,  and  he  nowhere  found 
the  words,  as  to  whether  a  '  Roman  Catholic  '  was  eligible 
or  ineligible.     What  was  meant  by  '  Roman  Catholic  ? ' 

Mr.  Harrison. — Well,  I  will  not  quarrel  about  terms ;  I 
mean  Papist. 

Mr.  F.  Pollock  admitted  that  there  were  certain  barriers 
to  protect  the  representation,  and  that  the  committee  could 
decide  by  what  course  they  would  pursue  the  inquiry ;  but 
he  implored  the  committee  to  allow  him  to  hear  the  facts  to 
which  they  intended  to  apply  the  alleged  law,  before  they 
were  called  on  to  argue  an  abstract  question  of  law.  Let 
the  facts  first  be  stated. 

Mr.  Alderson  followed  on  the  same  side.  He  admitted 
where  there  were  different  points,  it  was  convenient  to 
separate  the  objects  of  investigation,  and  complained  of  the 
unfairness  of  being  first,  and  unexpectedly,  required  to 
argue  a  dry  question  of  law. 

Mr.  Harrison  begged  to  observe  that  he  had  meant  no 
unfairness ;  that  he  had  pursued  the  usual  course  in  elec- 
tion cases,  and  that  during  twenty-six  years'  practice  before 
Commons'  election  committees,  he  had  never  given  the 
previous  notice  now  complained  of  as  not  having  been 
given.  He  thought  it  was  by  far  the  best  course  to  settle 
this  questioil  first.  If  he  were  thrown  upon  the  proof,  he 
would  appeal  to  the  notoriety  of  the  fact,  and  to  the  re- 
peated declarations  of  Mr.  O'Connell,  that  he  not  only  was 
a  Roman  Catholic  or  Papist,  but  that  he  would  ever  con- 
tinue such. 

Lord  W.  Russell  desired  Mr.  Harrison  to  say,  in  distinct 
terms,  what  was  his  proposition. 

Mr.  Harrison. — It  is  this — that  Mr.  O'Connell,  being  a 


112 

Koman  Catholic,  or  Papist,  was  ineligible  to  be  elected,  to 
be  returned,  or  to  sit. 

The  committee  then  desired  the  room  to  be  cleared. 
After  about  ten  minutes'  consultation,  the  counsel  and 
agents  were  re-admitted. 

Lord  W.  Russell  then  said :  *As  chairman,  I  am  desired 
to  inform  you,  that  the  committee  are  of  opinion  the  counsel 
for  the  petition  should  first  proceed  to  prove  the  fact.' 

Mr.  Harrison.— That  is,  to  prove  the  whole  of  my  case. 

The  Chairman. — Yes,  the  whole  facts  of  your  case. 

Mr.  Harrison  then  rose  for  such  purpose.  He  began  by 
observing,  that  he  should  have  to  trespass  at  great  length, 
by  first  stating  the  law  of  the  case,  the  several  statutes 
passed  to  exclude  Papists  from  the  Houses  of  Parliament, 
namely,  5th  Elizabeth,  3d  James  I.,  7th  James  I.,  30th 
Charles  I.,  and  1st  William  and  Mary.  They  required  the 
oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy  first  to  be  taken  before 
the  Lord  Steward,  or  his  deputy,  and  then  in  the  house, 
with  the  Speaker  in  the  chair.  That  course  continued 
down  to  the  present  time.  The  1st  of  William  and  Mary 
particularly  described  the  former  oaths,  the  modes  of  taking 
them,  and  again  enacted  that  they  should  still  continue  to 
be  taken  in  such  manner,  and  none  other.  This  was  requi- 
site to  be  enforced  by  the  convention  Parliament,  because 
the  dissenters  would  not  take  the  oath  of  supremacy  any 
more  than  the  Papists  or  Roman  Catholics ;  for  the  one 
said  that  Christ  was  the  head  of  the  church,  as  the  Papists 
declared  the  Pope  to  be.  The  first  act  of  William  and 
Mary  was  the  only  act  that  applied  to  the  case,  though 
others  had  been  referred  to — he  meant  by  the  gentleman 
against  whom  he  petitioned.  He  did  not  know  how  to 
describe  that  gentleman.  He  was  not  the  sitting  member, 
because  he  had  not  appeared  to  take  his  seat ;  he  did  not 
like  to  call  him  the  '  franking'  member,  as  some  had  termed 
him  ;  he  would  therefore  style  him  by  a  term  that  was  well 
known  and  much  used  in  Ireland — the  '  titular'  member  for 
Clare ;  and  that  would  be  equally  applicable  after  Mr. 
Vesey  Fitzgerald  should  have  taken  his  seat  for  Clare.  (A 
laugh.)  He  contended  that,  next  to  the  laws  existing,  the 
constant  practice  of  the  law  was  the  strongest  proof.  No 
one  ever  dreamed  that  unnecessary  oaths  had  been  taken, 
till  the  titular  member  for  Clare  came  with  his  new  light ; 
Ijut  he  maintained  that  1  William,  c.  8,  was  the  governing 


113 

statute,  and  referred  to  by  1   Geo.  I.,  6  Geo.  III.,  c.  53,  as 

well  as  the  Act  of  Union,  recognized  it.  The  forms  of 
oaths  were  there  settled,  and  so  continued  down  to  the 
present  time.  [Mr.  Harrison  argued  these  points  at  great 
length,  reading  the  several  clauses  of  the  different  acts.] 
But  it  was  said  that  no  time  was  prescribed  when  the  oaths 
should  be  taken ;  this  was  answered  not  only  by  the  acts 
already  named,  but  by  the  33  Geo.  XL,  chap.  20,  all  which 
prescribed  that  the  several  oaths,  &c.  must  be  taken  'beforo 
they  can  sit  and  vote.'  Then,  unless  the  member,  whoever 
he  might  be,  intended  not  to  go  into  the  house — he  spoke 
seriously — unless  he  desired  to  continue  the  'titular'  or 
'franking'  member — the  member  must  take  the  oaths  'be- 
fore' he  took  the  seat,  and  voted.  Unless  he  read  the  acts, 
it  would  hardly  be  believed  that  a  barrister,  who  ought  to 
have  known  better,  could  have  asserted  in  print,  the 
pamphlets  having  been  most  industriously  circulated,  that 
'no  time'  was  specified  for  taking  the  oaths.  The  like 
omissions  on  broad  assertions  were  made  respecting  Yel- 
verton's  Act,  the  Union,  &c.  He  contended  that  the  act 
of  Union,  39  and  40  Geo.  III.,  c.  67,  said,  as  regarded 
peers,  that  they  should  take  the  oaths  and  make  the  declar- 
ation as  then  established  by  law.  It  abrogated  no  laws, 
except  where  that  was  specifically  done  ;  but  on  the  con- 
trary, enjoined  the  taking  and  subscribing  of  oaths,  &c.,  as 
previously  established.  As  to  the  doctrine  held  to  the 
contrary,  it  was  puerile  and  absurd.  And  as  to  'Roman 
Catholics '  being  nowhere  mentioned,  as  was  alleged  by 
Mr.  Pollock,  the  33d  Geo.  III.,  c.  21,  was  expressly  'for 
the  further  relief  of  Papists  or  Roman  Catholics.'  The 
learned  gentleman  then  proceeded  at  some  length  to  show, 
that  by  the  construction  of  those  acts  a  Roman  Catholic 
was  ineligible  to  sit,  and,  being  so  ineligible,  a  person  de- 
claring himself  to  be  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  that  being  a 
matter  of  notoriety,  he  was  ineligible  to  be  a  candidate,  or 
to  be  returned,  and  that  therefore  his  election  was,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  null  and  void.  At  the  conclusion  of 
his  address,  the  learned  gentleman  put  in  the  return  of  the 
high  sherifT,  to  which  were  appended  a  certificate  from  the 
office  of  the  Crown  and  Hanaper  in  Ireland,  of  Mr.  O'Con- 
nell  having  been  sworn  in  as  a  Roman  Catholic  barrister, 
also  an  affidavit  of  his  having  declared  himself  a  Catholic. 
Mr.  F.  Pollock  objected  to  those  documents  being  re- 
10* 


114 

ceived  with  the  return,  and  contended,  that  the  sheriff  had 
no  right  to  make  those  additions  to  his  return  ;  and  that 
on  that  ground  they  could  not  be  received.  Nothing-  could 
be  received  as  evidence  but  the  return.  In  some  particular 
cases  the  sheriff  might  no  doubt  receive  evidence  ;  for  in- 
stance, in  that  of  a  boy  of  tender  age,  and  notoriously  a 
minor,  he  might  receive  evidence  of  the  fact,  and  append  it 
to  his  return  ;  but  in  most  other  cases,  and  in  the  present, 
his  office  was  purely  ministerial,  and  he  was  bound  to 
make  the  return,  and  any  addition  to  it  would  be  irregular 
on  his  part,  and  could  not  therefore  be  admitted  as  evi- 
dence with  the  return  itself.  It  was  suggested  to  him 
(Mr.  Pollock)  by  his  learned  friend  Mr.  Alderson,  that  a 
clergyman  entering  a  register  of  a  baptism,  and  adding  in 
it  the  age  of  the  child,  the  register  would  be  legal  evidence 
of  the  baptism,  but  the  entry  of  the  age  could  not  be  re- 
ceived as  evidence  of  the  age,  because  the  party  was  author- 
ized only  to  register  the  fact  of  the  baptism,  and  not  the 
age.  In  like  manner  an  entry  or  addition  to  the  return, 
which  the  sheriff  was  not  authorized  to  make,  could  not  be 
received  as  evidence  of  any  fact  with  the  return. 

Mr.  Harrison  contended,  that  the  sheriff  was  bound  to 
state,  in  his  return,  the  special  circumstances  of  any  pecu- 
liar case,  and  to  add  any  evidence  that  he  might  have 
received  of  those  circumstances ;  and  that  such  addition 
must  be  received  along  with  the  return.  As  to  the  case 
which  his  learned  friend  had  cited,  the  entry  of  the  clergy- 
man of  the  age  of  the  child  could  not  be  legally  received, 
because  the  clergyman  could  not  know  the  fact  of  his  own 
knowledge. 

Mr.  Pollock,  in  reply,  observed,  that  let  the  same  test  be 
put  to  the  case  before  the  committee,  and  it  would  at  once 
put  an  end  to  his  learned  friend's  argument.  How,  he 
asked,  could  the  sheriff  know  anything  of  the  affidavit? 
It  was  handed  to  him  as  sworn ;  but  how  could  he  know 
that  fact,  or  know  that  it  was  true  ? 

After  some  further  discussion,  the  room  was  cleared,  and 
strangers  were  excluded  for  about  twenty  minutes. 

'On  the  return  of  counsel,  they  were  informed  by  the 
chairman,  that  the  documents  appended  to  the  writ  might 
be  read ;  but  that  reading  was  not  to  be  considered  as  evi- 
dence of  the  truth  of  their  contents. 

The  documents  were  then  read  by  the  clerk,  after  which 


115 

Colonel  Fitzgerald  was  put  into  the  box,  and  proved  that  he 
had  heard  Mr.  O'Connell  declare  at  the  hustings  that  the 
freeholders  had  to  choose  between  him  and  Mr.  Vesey 
Fitzgerald ;  that  Mr.  Fitzgerald  had  sworn,  on  taking  his 
seat  in  Parliament,  that  their  religion  (that  of  the  Catholics) 
was  impious  and  idolatrous,  and  was  ready  to  swear  it 
again,  should  he  be  returned ;  but  that  he  (Mr.  O'Connell) 
being  a  Roman  Catholic,  would  never  take  any  such  oath, — 
that  he  would  sooner  die  first.. 

On  his  cross-examination.  Colonel  Fitzgerald  admitted 
that  Mr.  O'Connell  more  than  once  declared  that  it  was  not 
necessary  that  he,  as  a  Catholic,  should  take  the  oaths, — 
that  he  would  try  that  question. 

Mr.  Dillon  Macnamara  gave  similar  testimony  as  to  the 
declarations  of  Mr.  O'Connell  of  his  being  a  Catholic. 

In  his  cross-examination,  he  made  the  same  admission  as 
to  Mr.  O'Connell's  assertion,  that  it  would  not  be  necessary 
for  him  to  take  the  oaths  previously  to  his  taking  his  seat. 

In  answer  to  another  question,  as  to  whether  Mr.  O'Con- 
nell had  not  expressed  his  determination  to  try  the  right, 
witness  replied,  that  no  doubt  he  had,  but  the  right  could 
not  be  tried  till  the  return  was  made.  This  produced  a 
laugh  among  Mr.  O'Connell's  friends ;  and  Mr.  O'Connell 
observed  to  one  of  his  counsel — "  Certainly  it  could  not,  and 
that  is  the  whole  of  the  case." 

Harrison  said  he  should  call  no  further  evidence  on  this 
part  of  his  case. 

The  chairman,  after  consulting  with  the  committee,  de- 
clared it  would  be  advisable  to  adjourn  the  committee  till 
the  following  day,  when  it  again  met,  and  Mr.  Pollock  inti- 
mated that  it  was  not  intended  to  examine  any  witnesses  on 
the  part  of  Mr.  O'Connell. 

Mr.  Adam  said  that  that  would  throw  some  difficulty  in 
his  way,  and  then  proceeded  to  argue  in  support  of  the  peti- 
tion. The- learned  gentleman,  in  the  first  instance,  directed 
his  attention  to  the  various  text  writers  and  authorities, 
proving  the  necessity  of  taking  the  oaths  of  allegiance  and 
supremacy  before  the  Lord  Steward,  prior  to  any  member's 
being  admitted,  under  the  law  of  the  1st  of  Elizabeth,  to 
enter  the  House  of  Commons.  The  principal  act,  however, 
on  which  he  relied  in  this  part  of  his  case,  was  the  3d 
William  and  Mary,  c.  2,  which  extended  to  Ireland  the 
provisions  of  the  statute  30th  Charles  II. ;  and  he  referred 


lie 

to  the  history  of  that  period  in  support  of  his  construction 
of  this  act,  in  order  to  show  that  the  object  of  it  was  to  ex- 
clude Papists.  That  was  effected  by  one  of  the  clauses, 
which  declared  the  Invocation  of  the  Virgin  Mary  and  the 
sacrifice  of  the  mass  to  be  superstitious  and  idolatrous, 
which  was  a  test  that  the  Catholic  could  not  get  over. 
That,  however,  was  not  the  only  test.  It  had  been  at- 
tempted to  be  denied  that  Yelverton's  Act,  which  recognized 
these  statutes,  did  not  adopt  them  so  as  to  create  exclusion. 
But  a  very  slight  consideration  of  the  very  words  of  the 
statute  would  suffice  to  prove  the  futility  of  such  an  argu- 
ment. From  the  passing  of  that  act  up  to  the  time  of  the 
Union,  members  of  Parliament  took  the  oaths  prescribed 
by  the  English  statute  of  Charles  II.,  and  it  was  not  until 
lately  that  this  new  light  broke  in,  by  which  it  appeared 
that  these  statutes  had  no  reference  to  Ireland  at  all.  The 
9th  section  of  the  act  of  1793,  which  relieved  the  Catholics, 
also  mentioned  that  no  one  could  sit  in  Parliament  unless 
the  oaths  and  declarations  were  made  and  subscribed  accord- 
ing to  the  law  as  then  in  force,  thereby  expressly  recog- 
nizing the  act  of  William  and  Mary.  If  the  act  of  Union 
did,  as  he  contended,  continue  the  law,  it  was  certain  that 
no  Catholic  could  sit  in  Parliament ;  and  if  even  there  were 
any  doubt  upon  that  act,  the  41st  Geo.  III.,  ch.  52,  101, 
left  no  doubt  upon  the  subject,  and  seemed  as  if  framed  in 
anticipation  of  the  arguments  used  at  the  other  side.  It 
could  not  be  deduced  from  either  of  them  that  it  was  the 
intention  of  the  legislature  at  the  time  of  the  Union  to  let 
Koman  Catholics  into  Parliament.  He  admitted  that  if  the 
prohibitions  in  these  acts  were  established  for  the  first  time, 
they  would  not  amount  to  a  disqualification.  But  the  act 
enjoined  the  taking  of  the  oaths  before  accustomed  and 
known  to  be  taken  by  the  members  of  both  the  Parliaments, 
which  were  then  united ;  and  it  was  therefore  impossible  to 
say  that  all  the  consequences  which  were  applicable  to 
English  members  of  Parliament  would  not  equally  apply  to 
Irish  members.  It  was  said  that  there  was  no  time,  place, 
or  person  appointed  for  the  administering  the  oath,  which 
would  leave  the  act  open  to  this  interpretation,  that  no  oath 
at  all  need  be  taken.  The  nature  of  the  act  pointed  out  a 
place,  for  the  30th  Ch.  II.  merely  said  that  the  oath  was^  to 
be  taken  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  no  more ;  there- 
fore, it  would  be  absurd  to  say  that  there  was  no  place  to  be 


117 

found  for  the  purpose.  The  time,  place,  and  manner  were 
provided  by  the  different  acts  to  which  the  act  of  Union 
referred,  and  it  was  not  necessary  they  should  be  set  out 
modo  et  forma,  as  if  they  were  to  be  inserted  in  a  special 
declaration.  A  distinction  was  drawn  also  between  the  act 
of  Union  with  Ireland  and  that  of  Scotland,  because  in 
the  latter  the  disabilities  were  directly  declared  to  follow 
from  the  refusal  of  the  oaths,  while  in  the  former  there  is 
only  an  injunction  to  take  the  oaths  theretofore  usually 
taken.  Both  of  them,  however,  were  equally  valid ;  the 
latter  might,  no  doubt,  have  been  as  special,  but  it  was  not 
reasonable  to  infer  from  the  absence  of  special  and  precise 
terms,  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  Legislature  to  omit 
the  fulfilment  of  what  it  had  before  enjoined.  The  learned 
gentleman  then  proceeded  lo  argue,  that  the  41st  Geo.  III., 
c.  52,  applied  to  all  persons  returned  to  Parliament.  In 
proof  of  this  he  referred  to  the  title  of  the  act,  which  de- 
scribed it  as  showing  "  what  persons  "  are  disabled  from 
voting  and  sitting  in  Parliament.  There  were  three  classes 
of  persons  so  disabled  by  the  act,  the  first  and  second  of 
which  had  no  particular  reference  to  placemen,  but  applied 
equally  to  all.  The  learned  gentleman,  after  concluding 
this  part  of  his  case,  proceeded  to  argue,  that  if  a  Papist 
could  not  sit  and  vote,  he  was  not  eligible  to  be  returned. 
He  began  by  asking  for  what  purpose  would  a  member  be 
sent  to  Parliament  if  he  could  not  sit  there,  except  indeed 
to  give  considerable  trouble  in  the  first  instance,  and  to  leave 
a  portion  of  the  king's  subjects  unrepresented.  There  was 
nothing  more  jealously  looked  for  than  having  a  full  House 
of  Commons,  and  it  was  therefore  the  intention  of  the  Legis- 
lature that  every  member  should  be  able  to  sit ;  otherwise 
the  law  would  allow,  what  it  never  does,  that  something 
should  be  done  in  vain.  The  6th  section  of  the  41st  Geo. 
III.  proved  this ;  for  it  said,  that  "  if  any  person  declared 
incapable,  or  disabled  from  sitting  and  voting,  should  never- 
theless be  elected,  such  return  or  election  was  declared  null 
and  void."  The  consequence  then  must  be,  that  a  new  writ 
should  be  issued,  and  a  new  election  be  had.  Assuming, 
therefore,  that  a  Roman  Catholic  could  not  sit,  he  contended 
that  the  election  of  one  was  void.  The  learned  gentleman 
supported  this  argument  by  several  quotations  from  Black- 
stone,  Douglas,  and  by  reference  to  the  cases  of  Sir  Richard 
Allen  and  Mr.  Ongly,  which  arose  under  the  acts  of  King 


118 

"William  and  Queen  Anne,  with,  respect  to  placemen.  He 
contended,  further,  that  a  member  was  complete  the  moment 
he  was  returned,  before  he  either  sat  or  voted ;  and  in  proof 
of  this  he  cited  "  Hatsell,  page  88,"  who  instanced,  in  sup- 
port of  this  doctrine,  the  case  of  Sir  Joseph  Jekyli,  who  was 
chosen  on  the  committee  of  secrecy,  in  1715,  before  he  took 
the  oaths  at  the  table  of  the  house.  He  concluded  by  calling 
on  this  committee  to  look  at  the  history  of  all  these  acts, 
and  he  was  of  opinion  that  they  would  decide  with  him,  and 
declare  the  return  of  Mr.  O'Connell  as  one  who  could  not 
sit  in  the  house,  to  be  null  and  void. 

Mr.  F.  Pollock,  for  Mr.  O'Connell,  said  that  he  would 
not  follow  either  the  course  of  argument  pursued  by  his 
friend,  Mr.  Harrison,  the  day  before,  nor  would  he  make 
any  allusion  to  the  first  two  hours  of  Mr.  Adam's  speech. 
It  was  unquestionable,  that  before  the  Union  between  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  any  Catholic  refusing  to  take  the  oaths 
would  be  undoubtedly  excluded  from  sitting  or  voting  in 
Parliament.  Agreeing  in  all  that  Mr.  Adam  stated  up  to 
that  period,  he  denied  his  conclusion ;  and  with  respect  to 
the  Act  of  Union,  and  the  subsequent  Act,  he  would  not 
trouble  the  committee,  because  the  question  must  be  de- 
cided elsewhere.  The  general  question  of  emancipation 
had  nothing  to  do  with  this  particular  subject,  which  must 
be  considered  as  a  mere  point  of  law.  He  had  nothing  of 
overweening  confidence  in  his  own  opinion,  nor  would  he 
enter  into  those  differences  or  mistakes  which  might  have 
been  fallen  into  by  some  gentlemen  who  wrote  pamphlets. 
He,  however,  doubted  whether  what  Mr.  Harrison  stated 
was  anything  more  than  a  re-publication  of  what  had  been 
published  by  a  learned  member  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
But  it  had  very  little  to  do  with  the  question  then  before  the 
committee.  The  first  point,  he  asserted,  was,  that  up  to  the 
Union  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  any  person  was  entitled 
to  be  elected  without  any  disqualification  affecting  a  Roman 
Catholic  as  such ;  for  that,  although  the  oaths  and  declara- 
tions were  necessary  to  entitle  a  person  to  sit  and  vote,  yet 
until  that  period  had  arrived,  and  he  failed  in  doing  so,  he 
was  completely  a  member  of  the  House,  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  and  his  election  was  good  and  valid;  that  he 
proved  by  reference  to  the  first  statute  quoted,  which  di- 
rected that  members  theretofore  elected  should  take  the 
oaths  before  the  Lord  Steward,  and  should  not  otherwise  b« 


119 

deemed  knights  of  the  shire.     The  languag-e  of  the  30th 
Chs.  II.  was  equally  clear  in  recognizing  the  validity  of  the 
election,  but  left  it  on  the  conscience  of  the  member  whether 
he  would  take  the  oath  in  the  time  and  manner  specified. 
Peers  and  members  of  Parliament  were  on  the  same  footino-. 
The  Act  of  William  and  Mary  was  the  only  one  that  ap- 
plied to  Ireland,  and  that  said  that  no  peer  could  sit  and 
vote  or  give  his  proxy  without  takmg  the  oaths,  nor  any 
member  of  the  House  of  Commons  could  sit  or  vote  without 
taking  the  oaths  thereinafter  mentioned.     That  statute  thus 
recognized  him  to  be  a  member,  and  only  enacted  that  he 
could  not  sit  and  vote,  until  he  had  taken  the  oaths,  &c. 
It  went  on  to  say,  that  such  peer  or  member  of  Parliament 
should  be  disabled  from  thenceforth ;  wherefore  the  distinc- 
tion was  plain.     The  committee  were  only  to  decide  upon 
what  was  enacted,  but  they  could  not  decide,  that  if  an  indi- 
vidual were  once  a  Catholic,  he  should  be  incapable  of  being 
at  any  subsequent  period  elected.     It  was  urged  at  the  other 
side  that  there  was  a  test,  and  yet  they  would  not  abide  by 
it,  nor  by  the  care  and  the  provisions  of  Parliament,  but 
would  call  on  the  committee  to  declare  that  there  was  no 
necessity  for  that  test.     Those  enactments  were  devised  be- 
cause the  Legislature  found  it  impossible  to  dive  into  the 
consciences  of  men,  and  perhaps  with  a  view  that  by  being 
allo^ved  to  be  elected,  persons  might  be  induced  to  take 
these  oaths.     Peers  Avere  entitled  to  their  seats  on  merely 
taking  the  oaths ;  but  still  the  king  could  create  Catholic 
peers.     He  would  then  leave  that  part  of  the  question,  satis- 
fied that  the  validity  of  elections  was  recognized  by  every 
statute  up  to  the  Union.     The  second  point  he  contended 
for  was  that  the  Act  of  Union  left  the  question  preciselj? 
where  it  found  it.     This  part  of  the  subject  the  learned  gen 
tleman  illustrated  by  a  number  of  quotations  from  the  Scotch 
and  Irish  Acts  of  Union,  and  continued  to  say  that  if  the 
Act  of  Union  provided  that  all  members  must  take  the  oaths 
before  they  voted,  that  alone  must  settle  the  question,  and 
that  Mr.  O'Connell  was  not  subject  to  any  disqualification 
that  v/as  not  shared  by  others  in  the  kingdom — namely,  the 
not  taking  the  oaths.     The  learned  gentleman  proceeded  to 
say,  that  he  merely  assumed  that  it  was  necessary  to  take 
the  oaths  for  the  purpose  of  the  committee  entering  his  pro- 
test, that  that  part  of  the  question  must  be  decided  before 
the  House  of  Commons.     The  question  for  the  committee 


120 

was,  not  whether  there  was  evidence  of  Mr.  O'Connell's 
being  a  Catholic,  or  of  his  final  perseverance  in  the  Catholic 
faith,  for  they  could  not  know  what  he  might  do,  when  he 
went  to  demand  his  seat  in  the  House.  The  term  disability- 
could  not  refer  to  Mr.  O'Connell ;  he  was  under  none ;  for 
there  was  no  diving  into  a  man's  conscience,  and  no  one 
could  say  whether  he  might  or  might  not  take  these  oaths, 
although  it  was  contended  that  Mr.  O'Connell  was  at  this 
moment  disabled,  because,  by  and  by,  he  might  not  choose 
to  take  the  oaths  that  were  required.  Blackstone  had  been 
referred  to  ;  but  that  eminent  constitutional  lawyer,  amongst 
the  disabilities  he  enumerated,  never  mentioned  the  fact  of 
Catholics  being  disqualified  from  being  elected.  [Here  Mr. 
Adam  put  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Pollock  Mr.  Coleridge's 
edition  of  Blackstone,  which  in  a  note  enumerated  Papists, 
peers,  and  outlaws,  as  having  been  omitted  in  Blackstone's 
catalogue  of  disqualified  persons.]  Mr.  Pollock  commented 
shortly  upon  this  note,  and  asked  what  necessity  existed  to 
enumerate  peers  amongst  disqualified  persons,  when  even 
judges  who  were  commoners  were  included  in  the  list  on 
account  of  their  attendance  on  the  Lords'  House.  He  pro- 
ceeded to  say  that  he  was  not  there  to  deny  Mr.  O'Connell's 
being  a  Catholic,  but  merely  to  watch  the  evidence  given. 
There  was,  however,  no  Act  of  Parliament  which  fixed  the 
indelibility  of  the  Catholic  faith  upon  a  man,  like  holy 
orders ;  and  the  history  of  the  country  showed,  from  the 
many  changes  of  religion  which  had  taken  place,  that  the 
Legislature  intended  to  give  the  very  last  moment  for  the 
taking  of  those  oaths.  What  was  there  to  prevent  Mr. 
O'Connell  from  taking  those  oaths,  although  his  learned 
friends  at  the  other  side  would  argue,  that  although  he  did 
so,  he  could  not  yet  be  a  member  of  Parliament  ?  The 
committee  must,  to  decide  in  favor  of  the  petitioners,  adopt 
two  propositions — first,  that  Mr.  O'Connell  will  not  take  the 
oaths ;  and,  secondly,  that  when  he  presents  himself  for  the 
purpose  of  doing  so,  he  will  not  be  permitted.  That  discus- 
sion could  only  arise  when  Mr.  O'Connell  presented  himself 
to  the  House,  and  then  a  great  question  would  have  to  be 
decided.  He  trusted  that  Mr.  O'Connell  was  returned  to 
try  a  great  right,  and  that  the  committee  would  give  him  an 
opportunity  of  doing  so,  and  that  they  would  not  come  to  a 
decision  contrary  to  the  usage  of  all  tribunals,  by  antici- 
pating^ what  any  individual  might  do  at  a  future  period. 


121 

The  learned  gentleman  ceased  speaking  at  half  past  three 
o'clock. 

"  The  chairman  of  the  committee  (Lord  William  Russell) 
then  asked  whether  the  case  was  closed  on  both  sides,  and 
having  been  answered  in  the  affirmative,  strangers  were 
ordered  to  withdraw,  when  the  committee,  after  a  few 
minutes'  deliberation,  adjourned  until  the  next  day. 

"  On  the  meeting  of  Parliament  on  the  following  day, 
Lord  John  Russell,  as  the  organ  of  the  Committee  appointed 
to  take  into  consideration  the  petition  of  Daniel  O'ConnelL, 
Esq.,  reported  to  the  House,  that  Daniel  O'Connell,  Esq. 
was  duly  returned,  and  that  the  opposition  of  Thomas  Ma- 
hon  was  neither  frivolous  nor  vexatious." 

This  decision  was  received  with  evident  chagrin  by  the 
ministers,  who  were  not  prepared  to  disprove  it,  although 
resolved  to  do  so,  if  possible. 

On  Wednesday,  the  15th  of  May,  Mr.  O'Connell  entered 
the  House  of  Commons,  considering  himself  entitled  to  sit 
there,  by  the  provisions  of  the  late  act,  as  well  as  by  the 
decision  of  the  committee.  On  his  way  thither,  he  had 
found  the  streets  crowded  by  a  breathless  mass  of  human 
beings,  straining  their  eyes  on  each  actor  as  he  passed  to 
the  stage,  and  eagerly  expecting  the  result.  When  he 
entered  the  house,  which  was  unusually  crowded,  he  felt 
himself  the  object  of  an  absorbing  curiosity ;  every  eye  was 
on  his  manly  form,  and  every  brow  stamped  with  thought 
and  not  a  few  shaded  with  trouble.  Lords  Ebrington  and 
Duncannon  accompanied  him  to  the  table,  where  stood  the 
clerk  holding  the  tablets,  on  which  the  oaths  were  printed. 
He  crossed  the  floor,  hallowed  by  the  footsteps  of  so  many 
great  senators,  with  a  monarch's  dignity;  since  the  days  of 
Sir  Thomas  More  there  had  appeared  within  those  walls 
no  layman  fit  to  be  his  peer.  He  felt  that  though  the  walls 
around  him  were  inanimate,  still  they  had  been  consecrated 
to  genius  in  the  echoes  of  Burke's  orations  and  Chatham's 
early  eloquence.  Genius  reverences  genius,  and  a  less 
sensitive  nature  than  his  who  stood  before  the  Commoners 
of  England,  would  have  been  impressed  with  a  solemnity 
of  the  place.  When  the  oaths  were  tendered  to  him,  he 
pointed  out  such  passages  as  in  conscience  he  could  not 
take,  which  the  clerk  of  the  House  reported  to  the  speaker. 
After  examining  the  objections,  the  speaker  rose  and  briefly 
11 


122 

stating  his  reasons  why  the  proposition  of  Mr.  O^Connell, 
to  take  certain  portions  should  not  be  allowe'd,  ordered  that 
gentleman  to  retire.  This  being  done,  a  very  animated 
debate  ensued  upon  the  propriety — 1st.  Of  hearing  the  hon- 
orable gentleman's  objections.  2d.  Of  where  he  should  be 
heard  ;  whether  at  the  table  or  at  the  bar.  On  this  ques- 
tion there  was  a  great  diversity  of  opinion ;  the  chief 
debaters  were  Mr.  Brougham,  Mr.  Tierney,  and  Mr.  Wynn, 
in  favor  of  hearing  the  objections  forthwith,  and  Sir  Robert 
Peel,  and  Mr.  Sugden  for  adjourning  the  debate  until  the 
the  following  Monday,  giving  members  time  to  examine 
carefully  into  the  merits  of  the  application.  The  latter  pre- 
vailed. 

On  Monday,  the  18th,  the  debate  was  resumed  on  Mr. 
Brougham*s  motion ;  viz.,  "  that  the  honorable  member  for 
Clare  be  heard  at  the  table,  on  his  objections  to  the  oath 
of  supremacy.'^  Sir  Robert  Peel  moved,  as  an  amendment, 
that  he  be  heard  at  the  bar,  and,  after  some  mutual  conces- 
sions, the  amendment  was  carried,  and  Mr.  O'Connell  was 
introduced. 

His  argument  on  that  occasion  was  long  and  powerful; 
it  was  marked  with  courtesy  towards  the  House,  and  at  the 
same  time  with  the  strongest  convictions  of  his  own  right  to 
sit  therein.  "  The  question  is,"  he  said  in  conclusion,  "  is 
it  not  my  right  on  this  return  to  take  the  seat  to  which  I 
have  been  duly  elected  ?  Is  the  question  free  from  doubt  ? 
If  there  be  a  doubt,  I  am  entitled  to  the  benefit  of  that 
doubt.  I  maintain  that  I  have  a  constitutional  right,  founded 
on  the  return  of  the  sheriff  and  the  voice  of  the  people ;  and 
if  there  be  a  doubt  upon  the  subject  it  ought  to  be  removed. 
The  statute  comes  before  us  to  be  construed  from  the  first 
clause.  I  did — and  I  am  not  ashamed  to  own  it — I  did 
defer  to  the  opinions  of  others,  and  was  averse  from  calling 
for  that  construction,  and  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  interests 
of  those  who  sent  me  here,  my  own  rights  should  have  been 
buried  in  oblivion.  But  now  I  require  the  House  to  con- 
sider it.  Will  you  decide  that  a  civil  right  does  not  mean  a 
civil  right?  And  if  this  case  of  mine  be  not  excepted,  will 
you  add  it  as  an  additional  exception  ?  It  might  have  been 
said  by  some  of  those  who  supported  the  bill  that  it  was 
intended  by  that  measure  to  compensate  a  nation  for  by- 
gone wrongs,  and  to  form  the  foundation  stone  of  a  solid 
and  substantial  building,  to  be  consecrated  to  the  unity  and 


123 

peace  of  the  empire.  But  if  what  is  certain  may  be  dis- 
turbed ;  if  what  words  express  may  be  erased  ;  civil  rights 
may  be  determined  not  by  civil  rights,  if  we  are  to  be  told 
that,  by  some  excuse  or  by  some  pretext,  what  is  not  uncer- 
tain may  be  made  so,  we  shall  be  put  under  an  impossi- 
bility to  know  what  construction  we  must  hereafter  place 
on  the  statute.  I  have  endeavored  to  treat  this  House  with 
respect.  My  title  to  sit  in  it  is  clear  and  plain ;  and  I  con- 
tend that  the  statute  is  all  comprehensive  in  its  intention,  in 
its  recital,  and  in  its  enactments.  It  comprehends  every 
principle  and  measure  of  relief  with  such  exceptions  as  are 
thereinafter  excepted.  But  while  I  show  my  respect  for 
this  House,  I  stand  here  on  my  right  and  claim  the  benefit 
of  it." 

The  honorable  gentleman  thus  closed  his  plea,  and  with- 
drew amidst  the  renewed  plaudits  of  nearly  all  the  members 
and  persons  in  the  galleries. 

The  Solicitor  General  then  rose  to  reply,  but  first  hoped 
the  House  would  permit  him  to  say  that  the  plea  of  the 
member  for  Clare  "  was  characterized  by  that  ability  which 
they  had  a  right  to  expect  from  one  so  distinguished  in  his 
profession,"  and  that  the  temper  he  had  displayed  had  done 
him  "  great  credit  as  a  man  and  a  gentleman ;"  he  then 
went  into  a  learned  and  copious  argument  on  his  inadmis- 
sibility, and  concluded  by  moving,  "  that  Mr.  O'Connell, 
having  been  returned  a  member  of  this  House  before  the 
passing  of  the  act  for  the  relief  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  he 
is  not  entitled  to  sit  or  vote  in  this  House  unless  he  first 
takes  the  oath  of  supremacy." 

Mr.  George  Lambe  differed  materially  from  the  Solicitor 
General,  and  hoped  the  old  act  was  not  to  be  revived  "and 
levelled  at  the  honorable  member  for  Clare." 

Mr.  Fergusson  supported  the  views  of  the  Solicitor  Gen- 
eral. 

Mr.  W.  Fitzgerald  contravened  several  of  the  proposi- 
tions of  the  latter  gentleman. 

Mr.  Suo^den  followed  in  an  elaborate  argument  in  favor 
of  the  Solicitor  General's  views,  but  declared  in  his  perora- 
tion that — "  for  one,  he  should  be  very  happy  to  see  the 
honorable  and  learned  gentleman  in  the  House ;  convinced 
as  he  was,  from  the  temper  and  ability  which  he  had  that 
evening  manifested,  that  he  would  be  a  very  valuable  acqui- 
sition." 


124 

Sir  James  Scarlett  followed  on  the  same  side  in  a  true 
lawyer's  speech.  He  agreed  with  Mr.  Sugden  as  to  the 
admirable  conduct  of  the  honorable  member  of  Clare  ;  "  it 
certainly  would  be  a  subject  of  great  regret  to  him,  if  the 
House  should  feel  obliged,  in  the  discharge  of  their  duty,  to 
vote  the  exclusion  of  so  able  a  man."  He  did  not  think 
that  his  honorable  friend  (the  Solicitor  General)  had  an- 
swered all  the  obiections  of  the  honorable  member  for  Clare. 
He  hoped  that  it  would  not  be  made  a  party  question,  and 
then  proceeded  to  the  merits,  which  he  discussed  with  dis- 
tinguished ability. 

Mr.  Wynne  was  in  favor  of  another,  of  a  new  act,  which 
should  embrace  the  case  of  the  member  for  Clare. 

Mr.  Doherty  felt  it  his  duty,  although  a  relation  of  Mr. 
O'Connell's,  to  support  the  motion  of  his  right  honorable 
friend,  the  Solicitor  General. 

Mr.  Brougham  rejoined  in  a  very  convincing  speech. 
After  what  had  been  said,  no  member  of  the  House  need  be 
ashamed  to  confess  his  doubts  upon  the  nice  points  of  law 
involved,  and  if  so,  the  member  for  Clare  was  entitled  to  the 
benefit  of  their  doubts.  "  They  had  all  heard  the  able  and 
manly,  though  mild  and  unobtrusive  manner,  in  which  Mr. 
O'Connell  had  urged  his  claims  at  the  bar.  That  argu- 
ment had  not  been  touched." 

Mr.  Peel  had  no  doubt  whatever  upon  the  subject,  and 
went  into  a  long  argument  to  prove  that  the  oaths  of  supre- 
macy and  abjuration  could  not  have  been  repealed  by  the 
first  of  William  and  Mary. 

When  he  concluded,  the  question  was  put  and  the  House 
having  divided,  there  appeared  for  the  Solicitor  General's 
motion,  190.     Against  it,  116.     Majority,  74. 

The  following  day,  immediately  on  the  members'  assem- 
bling, Mr.  O'Connell  was  sent  for  to  the  bar  of  the  House, 
when  the  resolution  was  read  to  him  by  the  speaker,  and  it 
was  then  demanded  of  him  whether  he  would  take  the  oath 
of  supremacy.  Having  asked  for,  and  received  from  the 
clerk,  a  copy  of  the  oath,  he  said,  in  a  clear  and  resolute 
voice, — "  There  is  one  assertion  in  this  oath  which  I  do 
not  know  to  be  true  ;  there  is  another  which  I  do  not  be- 
lieve to  be  true.  I  cannot,  therefore,  take  this  oath."  Then 
he  bowed  to  the  House  and  withdrew. 

Immediately  on  Mr.  O'Connell's  leaving  the  House,  the 
Solicitor  General  moved  for  the  issue  of  a  new  writ  for 


125 

Clare.  On  this  motion  another  lengthy  debate  ensued 
between  Messrs.  Wynn  and  Sir  James  Mackintosh  against 
its  immediate  issue,  and  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  the  Solicitor 
General  in  support  of  the  latter's  motion.  The  house  then 
adjourned  until  the  2 1st.  On  that  day,  Mr.  Spring  Rice, 
in  a  lengthy  speech  moved  the  amendment  of  the  "  Catholic 
Relief  Bill,=^  Chap.  7,  in  relation  to  the  oaths  to  be  taken 
by  Catholic  members."  This  motion,  however,  was  lost, 
the  previous  one  carried,  and  a  new  writ  issued  for  Clare. 


CHAPTER  NINTH. 

O^Connell  is  reelected  for  Clare. — View  of  the  State  of  Eu- 
rope.— Various  Successes  of  Revolutionary  Efforts. — In- 
fluence of  the  Emancipation  upon  the  Reform  of  Parlia- 
ment.— Agitation. — Motion  for  a  Repeal  of  the  Union. — 
Death  of  George  the  Fourth. — His  Reign,  and  its  History. 
The  new  Irish  Representatives. — Sir  Michael  O^Loghlen. 

The  invalidity  of  his  claim  had  been  no  sooner  decided 
by  parliament,  than  Mr.  O'Connell  addressed  himself  to  the 
electors  of  Clare,  calling  upon  them  for  their  suffrages.  He 
commenced  by  informing  them  that  the  House  of  Commons 
"  had  deprived  him  of  a  right  which  the  people  of  Clare 
had  vested  him  with,"  and  then  recapitulated  the  objects  he 
would  have  in  view,  if  returned,  and  the  interests  of  the 
country  in  having  him  in  Parliament.  In  conclusion,  he 
noticed  one  or  two  objections  which  had  been  advanced  to 
his  election,  and,  amongst  others,  this: 

"  It  has  been  said  that  I  am  a  stranger  in  Clare.  Me  a 
stranger  in  any  part  of  Ireland  ?  Foolish  and  absurd  !  I 
am  identified  with  the  people  of  Clare  in  everything  that 
can  identify  man  to  man.     All  however,  I  can  claim,  is  the 

*  Throughout  this  discussion  the  term  "Relief"  is  used  as  synony- 
mous with  Emancipation. 
11# 


126 

ratification  of  the  former  election.  I  ask  only  the  sympathy 
of  Clare  upon  the  vacancy  ;  I  have  a  title  to  that  sympathy 
by  the  community  of  interest,  and  generous  feeling  and 
exalted  resolves." 

A  bill  had  been  brought  in,  the  previous  February,  by- 
Secretary  Peel,  to  suppress  the  Catholic  Association,  and  it 
had  been  passed  almost  without  opposition,  the  agitators 
having  been  given  to  understand,  than  by  such  a  sacrifice 
alone  could  majesty  be  propitiated  or  the  ministry  recon- 
ciled to  the  bitter  necessity  of  their  late  concession.  But 
no  sooner  had  Mr.  O'Connell  again  announced  himself  for 
the  field,  than  an  "  aggregate  meeting  "  was  held  in  the  As- 
sociation room,  addressed  by  the  Association  orators  ;  and 
after  a  merry  meeting,  they  voted  from  the  funds  of  the 
Association  £5000  towards  defraying  the  expenses  of  a  new 
canvass  in  Clare.  This  appropriation  was  zealously  op- 
posed by  Mr.  Eneas  McDonnell,  then  a  prominent  advocate 
of  Catholic  claims,  but  who  has  been  ever  since  a  confirmed 
opponent  to  the  just  demands  of  his  country. 

The  second  Clare  election  possessed  little  of  the  dramatic 
interest  of  the  first.  Mr.  O'Connell  "walked  over"  unop- 
posed, and  delivered  to  his  supporters  one  of  his  most  tran- 
chant  and  successful  speeches.  There  was  great  festivity 
in  Ennis,  and  his  route  homeward  to  Dublin  was  a  pro- 
longed ovation,  creditable  to  the  people,  and  worthy  of  his 
gigantic  services. 

It  is  well  to  pause  here,  and  looking  upon  the  char- 
acter of  the  times,  especially  the  condition  of  the  British 
Empire,  to  consider  what  place  amongst  reforms  the  mea- 
sure of  Emancipation  ought  justly  to  hold,  and  in  what  rank 
amongst  the  political  benefactors  of  mankind  the  name  of 
O'Connell  deserves  to  be  placed. 

It  was  not  alone  within  the  bounds  of  the  British  Empire 
that  this  greatest  triumph  of  our  age  was  felt  by  all,  and 
joyously  received  by  those  who  sought  freedom  of  con- 
science. Hitherto,  in  Europe,  since  the  days  of  the  "  Eefor- 
mation,"  religious  toleration  had  been  a  mere  name — a  thing 
all  pretence,  and  of  no  real  existence.  Catholic  and  Pro- 
testant governments  were  almost  equally  coercive  on  con- 
science. At  the  head  of  the  first  stood  France  ;  the  leader 
of  the  second  was  England.  In  nearly  every  country  which 
ranged  under  these  separate  banners,  the  spirit  of  political 
reform  had  been  at  work,  but  not  a  few  had  mistaken  the 


127 

wild  impulse  of  innovation  for  a  desire  to  extend  just  prin- 
ciples. The  famous  congress  of  Vienna,  in  1815,  had  re- 
fastened  legitimacy  upon  the  necks  of  Europeans;  and  its 
rulers,  freed  from  the  awful  presence  of  Napoleon,  pressed 
heavier  bonds  and  obligations  upon  their  subjects.  The  ter- 
rible discipline  they  had  received  from  the  hands  of  a  Cor- 
sican  Plebeian,  on  a  thousand  fields,  where  they  appeared  but 
to  retreat,  had  left  much  more  of  the  irritation  of  defeat  than 
the  experience  of  adversity  behind  it.  Within  a  period  of 
fifteen  years  there  were  attempts  at  revolt  in  nearly  all  the 
countries  of  the  continent,  which  kept  their  worships  of  the 
"  Holy  Alliance  "  pretty  busy.  Old  constitutions  died  giv- 
ing birth  to  new  each  successive  year.  In  1816,  by  a  peace- 
ful and  voluntary  effort,  the  constitution  of  the  papal  states 
was  abrogated  to  make  way  for  one  much  more  liberal ;  a 
similar  attempt  at  reform  had  been  forcibly  suppressed  in 
Naples,  some  time  after,  by  the  overwhelming  power  of  an 
Austrian  army.  The  Peninsula  was  the  scene  of  other 
and  more  violent  attempts  at  change.  Portugal  was  once 
more  ruled  by  a  Braganza,  under  the  title  of  John  VI.,  who 
granted,  on  his  return  from  exile,  an  improved  constitu- 
tion to  his  subjects,  whilst  his  son,  Don  Pedro,  whom  he 
had  left  behind  in  Brazil,  assumed,  without  the  knowledge 
of  his  father,  the  title  of  Emperor  of  that  province,  with  the 
consent  of  the  people.  Spain  was  not  spared  in  this  visi- 
tation of  nations.  In  1820  the  new  constitution  was  pro- 
claimed, but  very  much  to  the  dissatisfaction  of  the  patriot 
party,  who  still  remained  in  arms.  Ferdinand  sought  aid 
of  France,  and  the  Due  D'  Angouleme,  son  of  Charles  X., 
crossed  the  frontier  to  the  support  of  absolute  monarchism, 
with  an  army  of  seventy  thousand  men.  The  fields  of  the 
Peninsula,  rifted  and  seared  with  the  thunderbolts  of  France, 
of  England,  and  the  allies,  had  not  yet  felt  the  restoring 
influence  of  peace,  when  a  new  campaign  again  broke  over 
their  deathly  stillness.  The  story  of  that  \var  of  indepen- 
dence is  briefly  sad ; — Ballesteros  was  forced  to  submit ; 
Reigo,  in  spite  of  the  royal  pledge,  was  put  to  death,  and 
Mina  was  driven  into  exile.  The  rising  in  Piedmont  fared 
a  similar  fate  with  that  of  Spain.  The  armed  interference 
of  Austria  flung  its  leaders  into  the  dungeons  of  Milan, 
where  many  of  them  lingered  out  life  in  an  unremitted  soli- 
tary confinement.  In  England,  the  spirit  of  change  had 
taken  a  different  shape,  but  not  a  less  active  existence,  from. 


128 

the  same  stimulating  causes.  In  1819  occurred  the  Man- 
chester massacre,  in  which  five  hundred  persons  were  mu- 
tilated by  the  bayonets  of  a  ruthless  soldiery,  abetted  and 
led  on  by  the  magistracy  of  the  place.  This  event  occur 
red  on  the  16th  of  August,  in  open  day  :  a  vast  assemblag< 
of  between  forty  and  sixty  thousand  persons  having  assem 
bled  to  hear  a  speech  from  Mr.  Hunt,  a  favorite  orator  of  the 
democracy.  In  the  following  year  the  death  of  Henry 
Grattan"^  and  of  George  HI.  materially  affected,  in  theii 
results,  the  cause  of  reform  ;  but  the  return  of  Queen  Caro- 
line to  England,  and  her  memorable  trial  for  adultery,  be- 
fore the  House  of  Lords,  gave  to  the  popular  party  new  and 
formidable  advantages,  which  they  failed  not  to  employ  to 
the  best  advantage  against  the  ministry  and  the  court.  The 
Cato-street  conspiracy,  for  which  Thistlewood  and  five 
others  suffered  death — the  death  of  Bonaparte — the  suicide 
of  the  Marquis  of  Londonderry,  (Lord  Castlereagh,t)  and 

*  It  is  not  sufficient  that  the  name  of  Mr.  Grattan  should  be  men- 
tioned in  connection  with  the  early  progress  of  the  Catholic  question. 
For  forty-five  years,  in  the  parliaments  of  both  kingdoms,  he  had  been 
the  strenuous  advocate  of  the  largest  liberty  of  conscience.  Indepen- 
dent of  his  great  claims  on  Ireland,  as  the  father  and  defender  of  her 
constitution,  he  added  another  paramount  to  these  by  his  untiring 
efforts,  through  a  long  series  of  years,  to  secure  the  abolition  of  the 
penal  laws.  Mr.  Grattan  M'-as  born  in  1750,  and  commenced  his  public 
career  at  the  age  of  twenty-five.  His  father  had  been  Recorder  of  Dub- 
lin, and  was  one  of  that  influential  family  of  whom  Dean  Swift  said, 
in  answer  to  an  inquiry  of  who  they  were — "  Not  know  the  Grattans  ! 
Why,  they  could  raise  an  army  at  their  bidding."  Mr.  Grattan  was 
educated  at  "old  Trinity,"  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1772,  where  it  does 
not  appear  that  he  practised,  and  entered  the  Irish  Commons  under  the 
patronage  of  Lord  Charlemont,  in  1775.  In  1805  he  became  a  member 
of  English  Parliament,  and  died  in  1820,  having  served  forty  years  in 
both  legislatures.  "  The  style  of  his  speaking,"  says  his  patriotic 
son,  "was  strikingly  remarkable, — bold,  figurative  and  impassioned, 
always  adapted  to  the  time  and  circumstance,  and  peculiarly  well 
suited  to  the  taste  and  temper  of  the  audience  that  he  had  to  address." 

fThis  man,  whose  name  possesses  such  an  infamous  celebrity  in 
the  latter  history  of  Ireland,  was  born  in  1769,  educated  at  Cambridge, 
and  entered  the  Irish  parliament  in  his  twenty-first  year,  as  member 
for  the  county  of  Down.  He  w^as  then  an  ardent  reformer  ;  but  the 
fire  of  his  enthusiasm  soon  exhausted  itself,  and  in  1797  he  was  ap- 
pointed chief  secretary  of  Ireland.  By  the  application  of  upwards  of 
two  millions  of  pounds  sterling  in  the  purchase  of  votes,  and  hav- 
ing secured  the  populace  by  martial  law,  and  the  suspension  of  the 
habeas  corpus  act,  he  effected  the  long  desired  object  of  his  em 
ployers — the  legislative  extinction  of  Ireland,     As  a  reward  for  thif 


129 

the  death  of  Queen  Caroline,  were  the  chief  domestic  inci- 
dents which  gave  zest  to  public  life  in  England,  and  topic 
to  the  advocates  of  Reform,  previous  to  1830.  On  the  con- 
tinent, the  spirit  of  change  seemed  still  at  work ;  the  Penin- 
sula and  France  were  still  the  theatres  of  its  most  active 
operations,  and  even  at  this  day  the  public  mind  of  these 
countries  is  troubled  and  restless  ;  nor  can  a  reasonable  an- 
ticipation be  formed  of  where  the  commotions  ever  since 
going  on  may  end. 

I  have  taken  this  partial  glance  at  the  political  state  of 
Europe,  in  order  that  the  reader  may  more  readily  compre- 
hend the  value  of  that  great  concession  which  was  accom- 
plished without  bloodshed,  and  retained  without  force. 
We  are  entering  upon  a  new  age,  and  the  contemplation 
of  that  immediately  preceding  cannot  be  an  irksome  or 
useless  task.  The  age  of  Napoleon  was  an  age  of  revo- 
lution, in  the  wildest  signification  of  that  extensive  phrase. 
It  was  an  age,  also,  of  terrible  physical  conflicts,  by  which 
the  good  effected  was  marred,  while  the  evils  attacked 
were  only  strengthened,  and  driven  more  deeply  into  the 
soil.  The  stimulating  spirit  of  France  was  blindly  aggres- 
sive— that  of  England  recklessly  conservative.  The  one, 
after  trampling  scores  of  old  thrones  beneath  her  feet,  took 
back  her  own,  and  its  tenant,  the  alms  of  an  invading  army 
of  sovereigns  ;  the  other,  after  being  the  champion  of  every 
royal  race  in  Europe — the  griffin  sitting  at  the  portal  of 
legitimacy — found  herself  repaid  by  an  enormous  debt,  and 
honored  with  the  fears  and  jealousies  of  her  proteges.  The 
character  of  the  masses  bore  some  resemblance  to  their 
respective  governments ; — in  France,  an  insurrection  was 
the  work  of  a  week,  equally  brief  and  bloody ;  in  Britain, 
it  was  the  long  matured  exercise  of  popular  strength,  care- 
revolting  conduct,  he  was  appointed  Minister  of  War  in  1805.  In 
1811,  he  became  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs;  in  1814  was  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  to  the  allied  powers,  and  in  the  following  year  repre- 
sented Great  Britain  in  the  congress  of  Vienna.  In  1821,  he  suc- 
ceeded his  father  as  Marquis  of  Londonderry,  but  did  not  long  enjoy 
that  title,  having  committed  suicide  on  the  12th  of  August,  1822.  As 
a  statesman  he  was  subtle,  wary  and  consummately  politic  ;  one 
every  way  fitted  to  play  the  game  of  diplomacy  with  Talleyrand, 
Pozzi  di  Borghi  and  Metternich.  In  Irelai;d  his  name  will  be  immor- 
tally odious ;  but  England  has  many  reasons  to  remember  his  abil- 
ities, though  few  on  which  to  assert  his  integrity,  or  to  recall  his 
name  with  satisfaction. 


130 

ful  of  the  good,  while  destroying  the  ohnoxlous  features  of 
legislation.  The  stability  of  the  measures  thus  established 
have  shown  themselves  durable  or  transient,  according  to 
the  haste  or  caution  with  which  they  were  concocted  and 
carried. 

The  much-needed  measure  of  a  reform  in  Parliament 
had  long  been  a  favorite  object  with  the  whig  party  in 
England.  In  this  they  were  latterly  sustained  by  the 
radical  reformers,  or  more  ultra  advocates  of  popular  rule. 
To  the  former  class  belonged  Fox,  Sheridan,  Grattan,  Lord 
John  Russell,  and  other  eminent  commoners.  Sir  Francis 
Burdett,  and  Mr,  (now  Lord)  Brougham,  were  the  chief 
radicals  in  the  House  of  Commons ;  while  Sir  Charles 
Wolsey,  William  Cobbett,  Mr.  Hunt,  and  a  few  others,  were 
conspicuous  in  the  "out-of-door"  work.  This  coalition, 
however,  was  marred  by  contentions  and  recriminations ; 
and  many  of  the  earliest  friends  of  reform  went  down  to 
the  grave,  seeing  the  cause  as  far  from  the  goal  of  fulfil- 
ment, as  they  had  found  it  half  a  century  before.  During 
the  emancipation  debates,  the  whigs  were  steady,  and  the 
radicals  ardent  friends  of  the  Catholics.  Both,  therefore, 
justly  anticipated  additional  strength  from  the  passage  of 
that  measure.     This  expectation  was  not  disappointed. 

Early  in  the  session  of  1830,  Mr.  O'Connell  took  his 
seat  with  the  opposition,  in  the  English  Commons.  There 
had  been  much  speculation  as  to  the  course  he  would  prob- 
ably pursue  in  Parliament — some  supposing  that  he  would, 
like  Malone,  content  himself  with  one  great  triumph,  and 
spend  his  days  in  indolent  repose ;  while  others  more  justly 
predicted  a  continuation  of  the  career  of  agitation,  by  which 
he  had  already  accomplished  more  than  two  hundred  years 
of  argument  had  been  able  to  effect.  These  last  found 
their  supposition  fully  realized.  The  passage  of  the  eman- 
cipation bill  had  been  always  regarded  by  Mr.  O'Connell, 
a  measure  as  much  preliminary  as  positive  in  its  operation. 
It  was  necessary  to  secure  freedom  of  worship,  and  easier 
at  the  same  time,  than  to  effect  the  freedom  of  corporations, 
the  spread  of  the  franchise,  or  a  repeal  of  the  Union.  In 
agitating  for  it,  the  altar  became  a  rostrum,  and  the  conse- 
crated of  God,  a  popular  adviser ;  the  awful  paraphernalia 
of  religion  surrounded  every  effort  of  the  Catholic  leaders, 
and  her  superhuman  voice  penetrated  to  the  lowest  deep  in 
the  depth  of  Irish  slavery.     But  conscience  being  unfet- 


131 

tered,  the  people  began  to  survey  their  actual  temporal 
condition,  their  deprivation  of  learning,  their  disfranchised 
freeholders,  their  unemployed  millions,  their  wasting  re- 
sources, their  enormous  taxations  and  tithes.  In  the  midst 
of  these  minor  evils  which  glared  upon  the  country,  there 
arose  one  of  greater  dimensions  and  more  chilling  presence 
— the  absence  of  their  old  Parliament.  It  was  a  matter  of 
policy  on  the  part  of  the  victorious  leaders  of  the  people, 
whether  they  should  aim  first  at  the  greatest  grievance,  in 
whose  fall  all  minor  ones  were  to  be  crushed  to  pieces,  or 
whether  they  should  demolish  the  outworks  before  they 
opened  upon  the  main  fortress.  They  decided  on  the  first, 
but,  four  years  afterwards,  changed  their  tactics,  and  have 
since  then  zealously  and  successfully  labored  to  repeal  the 
tithe  rent  charge — to  open  the  close  boroughs  of  the  Irish 
corporations — to  extend  municipal  reform — to  provide  for 
the  national  education  and  for  the  poor ;  until  at  present 
they  draw  up  once  more,  in  augmented  and  experienced 
numbers,  before  the  grand  bulwark  of  foreign  domination 
in  Ireland — the  act  of  Union. 

The  question  of  a  Repeal  of  the  Union  was  warmly  ad- 
vocated by  Mr.  O'Connell,  by  Shiel,  and  many  other  of  the 
veteran  emancipators.     The  cry  of  "  Independence,  or  else 

"  rang  through  the  atmosphere  as  of  old,  and  was 

met  with  counter  shouts  of  separation  and  ascendancy,  as 
it  had  been  before.  Alas  !  how  often  had  Ireland  come  up 
to  the  struggle  for  nationality !  With  what  wary  and 
almost  fearful  steps,  she  had  climbed  the  brow  of  that 
precipice,  though  laden  with  penal  irons.  Her  old  Milesian 
leaders  had  fled  the  land  with  the  eclipse  of  the  Stuart  star 
— men  of  bold  hearts  and  lusty  arms,  who  brooked  no 
union  in  substance  or  in  name — whose  swords  had  written 
in  blood  their  protests  against  and  hatred  of  English  ty- 
ranny, on  Beal-an-ath-Buidhe,  on  Kinsale,  and  Aughrim. 
In  the  darkness  of  the  succeeding  night,  another  heroic 
race,  of  different  lineage  and  temper,  of  another  creed  and 
name,  stood  up  her  advocates  and  champions.  Molyneaux 
and  Swift,  Lucas  and  Malone,  Yelverton  and  Grattan, 
sought  to  supply  the  stead  of  those  hereditary  leaders, 
whose  birth,  accomplishments,  and  creed,  once  gave  them 
sovereign  sway  over  the  hearts  of  the  millions.  But  with 
O'Connell,  the  Milesian  and  the  Catholic  leadership  had 
been  revived ;  and  not  the  great  Tir  Owen  was  more  for- 


132 

midable  to  Cromwell's  schemes,  than  was  he  to  that  other 
iron  subject,  and  almost  sovereign  tyrant— the  victor  of 
Waterloo.  But  though  a  great  triumph  had  been  won,  a 
yet  greater  was  to  be  commenced.  The  public  purse  had 
been  well  taxed  of  late  in  the  service  of  agitation ;  the 
public  mind  had  been  harassed  with  alternating  hopes  and 
fears;  and,  as  it  was  necessary  to  call  forth  every  energy 
of  the  people,  Mr.  O'Connell  resolved  not  to  summon  them 
ere  they  could  safely  come  into  the  field. 

With  this  wise  project,  in  which  he  had  the  concurrence 
of  his  ablest  friends,  he  started  the  '  National  Union  Asso- 
ciation," which  was  to  operate  in  favor  both  of  Reform  and 
Repeal,  and  to  preserve  intact  the  machinery  of  future 
movements.  This  body  was  located  at  Dublin,  and  was 
chiefly  composed  of  the  same  persons  who  successively 
assumed  the  titles  of  the  "  Liberal  Club,"  "  Precursor 
Society,"  etc.,  until  at  length  they  have  chosen  to  abide  by 
that  of  the  "Loyal  National  Repeal  Association." 

O'Connell  had  been  in  Parliament  but  a  few  weeks  when 
George  the  Fourth  died,  in  the  63d  year  of  his  age,  and 
the  10th  of  his  reign.  This  event  occurred  on  the  26th 
day  of  June,  1830.  Within  his  regency  and  reign  occurred 
many  of  the  most  important  events  of  modern  history;  with- 
in his  life-time,  the  great  empire  over  which  he  held  the 
sceptre  began  to  settle  down  into  a  reasonable  and  compact 
body.  A  huge  limb  had  been  lopped  off  by  the  treaty  of 
Paris,  but  the  pruning  knife  of  Franklin  sent  back  the  sap 
of  strength  to  the  old  trunk  of  many  branches.  Great 
Britain  lost  much  of  continental  influence  towards  the  close 
of  his  reign ;  Russia,  under  Alexander,  became  her  formi- 
dable rival  in  the  North  and  East,  while  France,  emerged 
from  her  trials  and  her  costly  triumphs,  with  an  insignificant 
national  debt,  an  abundance  of  experience,  and  possessed  of 
a  new  generation  of  ministers,  who,  from  dining  beneath  the 
Damoclean  sword  of  revolution,  had  outgrown  the  volatility 
of  their  nation.  She  had  lost  also  much  of  her  German  in- 
fluence ;  and  for  all  the  blood  spilt  upon  the  Peninsula,  she 
had  not  acquired  one  solitary  concession.  The  opposite  to 
all  this,  she  had  been  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  be- 
fore George  the  Third  became  a  driveller,  or  Edmund  Burke 
a  tory.  But  when  Chatham  was  laid  with  his  fathers,  an 
obscure  Corsican  outwitted  and  browbeat  her  armies  and 
her  cabinets ;  showing  to  continental  Europe  that  England 


133 

was  neither  invincible  in  arms  nor  infallible  in  diplomacy. 
In  his  mission  he  was  a  teacher  of  kings.  To  him  a  Guelph 
was  no  more  than  a  Bourbon  or  a  Branganza ;  he  scourged 
them  all  with  rigorous  impartiality.  His  ships  were 
freighted  with  kingly  emigrants,  and  his  strides,  like  those 
of  Asmodeus,  were  from  one  dwellmg  of  corruption  to 
another — from  St.  Marks  to  the  Krenuin,  from  the  Escurial 
to  St.  James'.  He  broke  down  in  his  wonderful  career  the 
ascendant  fame  of  England's  prowess,  which  it  had  taken 
Marlborough  a  life-time  to  establish  upon  land,  and  Nel- 
son many  victories  to  ratify  on  the  ocean ;  and  though,  in 
his  turn,  he  was  defeated,  his  demonstrations  on  this  head 
are  yet  unforgotten  in  the  councils  of  the  continent. 

O'Connell  has  been  within  the  empire  what  Bonaparte 
had  been  without.  Its  rulers  prided  themselves  equally  as 
much  upon  being  the  political  champions  of  Protestantism 
as  on  being  the  regulators  of  the  "  balance  of  power."  Two 
insular  plebeians,  one  born  in  Corsica,  and  the  other  in 
Ireland,  snatched  the  "  flattering  unction  from  their  souls," 
and  straitened  them  into  those  reforms  which  never  would 
have  been  voluntarily  enacted.  The  reign  of  George  the 
Fourth,  in  seeing  the  consummation  of  those  things,  saw  a 
mighty  change,  and  the  parent  of  other  changes  greater 
than  the  first. 

The  new  Irish  members,  chosen  in  consequence  of  the 
passage  of  the  Catholic  Emancipation  bill,  were  chiefly  men 
who  had  been  connected  with  the  agitation  of  that  question, 
although  the  majority  of  their  members  were  of  the  Protest- 
ant religion.  O'Gorman  Mahon  was  elected  for  an  Eng-lish 
borough,  Maurice  O'Connell  for  Tralee,  Mr.  Eonayne  for 
Clonmel,  Mr.  Lawless  was  nominated  but  not  elected  for 
Meath,  Mr.  Shiel  was  elected  for  Tipperary,  and  Sir  Mi- 
chael O'Loirhlen  for  Dunsfarvan.  AH  these  were  g-ood  men 
and  true,  and,  with  some  few  faults,  such  sons  as  their 
country  might  well  pride  in. 

The  last  name  goes  to  the  heart  of  every  true  Irishman. 
It  was  borne  by  one  of  the  purest  souls  that  ever  moved 
over,  or  improved  this  earth  by  its  presence.  It  beat  with 
unvarying  ardor  for  Ireland,  and  the  image  of  O'Connell  was 
erected  within  its  most  sacred  recesses.  It  were  guilt  to 
pass  over  the  history  of  such  a  name,  for,  in  politics  as  in 
law,  it  is  one  of  the  most  truly  honorable  of  the  age. 

Sir  Michael  O'Loghlen,  as  Master  of  the  Rolls,  was  ad- 
12 


134 

mitted  by  all  parties  to  be  a  judge  of  unblemished  impar- 
tiality, application,  and  sagacity.  Few  characters,  in  a  par- 
tizan  land  like  Ireland,  are  so  difficult  of  attainment  as  this  ; 
there  has  not  been  a  dozen  in  the  past  and  present  century 
to  whom  it  can  be  justly  given.  Whigs  at  the  bar  have 
been  whisfs  on  the  bench,  and  tories  in  the  courts  have  been 
tories  still,  whether  dressed  in  stuffs  or  ermines.  To  make 
the  judgment-seat  honorable  in  the  eyes  of  good  subjects, 
to  rescue  the  laws  from  the  disrepute  to  which  mal-admin- 
istration  had  brought  them  down,  to  blend  the  avenger's 
with  the  guardian's  character,  was  reserved  for  one  of  the 
people,  by  birth,  descent,  religion,  education  and  feeling. 
That  man  was  Michael  O'Loghlen.  From  his  infancy  he 
seemed  born  for  a  high  mission.  Patient,  retentive  and 
mild,  without  strong  passions,  always  animated  and  cheerful, 
kind  and  inviting  in  his  exterior,  penetrating  and  observant, 
firm  as  a  rock  in  the  maintenance  of  his  probity.  When  a 
boy  at  school,  it  was  remarked  by  his  teacher  that  he  never 
appeared  in  the  sports  of  other  scholars,  and  having  watched 
him  one  day  after  the  usual  dismissal,  he  found  that  instead 
of  going  out  at  the  appointed  time,  he  conveyed  himself 
under  the  benches,  and  when  all  was  restored  to  quietness, 
resumed  his  seat  and  book.  The  teacher,  who  was  a  man 
of  the  Bonycastle  school,  and  could  hardly  forgive  even  such 
disobedience,  called  for  the  culprit  when  all  the  classes  were 
reassembled,  and  demanded  of  him  where  he  was  when 
they  were  dismissed.  "  I  was  hiding,  sir,"  was  the  manly 
reply.     It  is  unnecessary  to  say  he  went  unpunished. 

Sir  Michael  O'Loghlen,  born  on  the  1st  of  October,  1789, 
was  the  fourth  and  youngest  son  of  Colman  O'Loghlen,  a 
Justice  of  the  Peace  who  resided  at  Port,  Co.  Clare,  and 
traced  his  blood  through  royal  veins  to  the  "  Princes  of 
Burrin."  His  son  inherited  with  his  blood  a  portion  of  heral- 
dic vain-glory,  of  which  he  gave  a  remarkable  proof  when, 
as  Sergeant  O'Loghlen,  he  contested  the  borough  election 
of  the  city  of  Dublin.  His  opponents,  Mr.  Recorder  Shaw 
and  Lord  Ingestrie,  were  residents  of  the  city,  and  they  did 
not  hesitate  to  use,  in  its  most  unfriendly  sense,  the  term 
"  stranger,"  toward  the  sergeant,  who  retorted  with  great 
force,  by  repeating  their  expression — "  Stranger !  "  said 
he,  "  why,  they  are  the  real  strangers,  and  I,  an  O'Logh- 
len, am  the  true  native."  At  the  age  of  twenty-two  he 
was   called  to  the   bar,  but  was   not  immediately  taken 


135 

notice  of.  His  personal  appearance  about  that  time  is  well 
discribed  by  one  who  knew  him.  "  His  bright  blue  eye 
continually  sparkled,  and  gave  his  face  a  playful  and  juve- 
nile appearance,  while  his  bony  and  unruffled  forehead, 
broad  and  high,  looked  conscious  strength  and  seren- 
ity. He  was  then  about  that  period  of  life  when  the  ex- 
tremes of  age  and  ^'■outh  meet,  the  sweet  simplicity  of  one 
with  the  ripened  observation  of  the  other ;  and  yet  there 
was  a  glowing  and  youthful  freshness  about  him,  which 
seemed  to  defy  the  intrusion  of  advancing  years.  You 
could  not  have  looked  a  moment  on  him  without  being  at- 
tracted by  the  silver  chord  of  sympathy — such  a  generous 
play  of  cheerfulness  in  his  countenance — such  winning 
condescension  in  his  manners — such  warmth  and  affection 
in  all  he  looked  and  uttered  !  "  ^ 

His  first  day  of  eminence  was  occasioned  by  an  accident, 
to  him,  at  least,  of  a  very  fortunate  nature.!     He  was  em- 

*  Metropolitan  Magazine,  vol.  v.,  page  74. 

f  Lord  Eldon,  also,  it  appears,  owed  his  first  success  to  an  accident 
somewhat  similar,  which  is  thus  pleasantly  related  by  Mr.  Horace 
Twiss  :— 

''  The  following  story  is  current  at  the  bar,  of  Mr.  Scott's  (Lord 
Eldon)  first  success  on  the  circuit  in  a  civil  action.  The  plaintiff  was 
a  Mrs,  Fermor,  who  sought  damages  against  the  defendant,  an  elderly 
maiden  lady,  named  Sanstern,  for  an  assault  committed  at  a  whist 
table.  Mr.  Scott  was  junior  counsel  for  the  plaintiff,  and  when  the 
case  was  called  on,  his  leader  was  absent  in  the  Crown  Court,  con- 
ducting a  government  prosecution.  Mr.  Scott  requested  that  the 
cause  might  be  postponed  till  his  leader  should  be  at  liberty,  but  the 
judge  refusing,  there  was  no  help,  and  Mr.  Scott  addressed  the  jury 
for  Mrs.  Fermor,  and  called  his  witnesses.  It  was  proved  that  at  the 
whist  table  some  angry  words  arose  between  the  ladies,  which,  at 
length,  kindled  to  such  heat,  Miss  Sanstem  was  impelled  to  throw 
her  cards  at  the  head  of  Mrs.  Fermor,  who  (probably  in  dodging  to 
to  avoid  these  missiles)  fell  or  slipped  from  her  chair  to  the  ground. 
Upon  this  evidence,  the  defendant's  counsel  objected  that  the  case  had 
not  been  proved  as  alleged,  for  that  the  declarations  stated  the  defen- 
dant to  have  committed  the  assault  with  her  hand,  whereas  the  evi- 
dence proved  it  to  have  been  committed  with  the  cards.  Mr.  Scott, 
however,  insisted  that  the  facts  were  substantially  proved  according 
to  the  averment  in  the  declaration,  of  an  assault  committed  with  the 
hand,  for  that  in  the  common  parlance  of  the  card  table,  the  hand 
means  the  hand  of  cards  ;  and  thus,  that  Miss  Sanstem,  having 
thrown  her  cards  in  Mrs.  Fermor's  face,  had  clearly  assaulted  Mrs. 
Fermor  with  her  hand.  The  court  laughed  ;  the  jury,  much  diverted, 
found  the  plaintiff's  allegations  sufficiently  proved,  and  the  young 
counsel  had  the  frolic  and  fame  of  a  verdict  in  his  favor." — Life  of 
Lord  Eldon. 


136 

ployed  as  junior  counsel  to  O'Connell  in  a  trial  of  great  im- 
portance ;  but  it  so  happened  that  his  leader  had,  on  the 
morning  of  trial,  decamped  to  fight  the  ill-starred  D'Esterre. 
The  case  was  called,  and  the  bench  peremptorily  announ- 
ced that  it  could  not  be  postponed.  Under  this  difficuky 
O'Loghlen  shook  off  his  natural  diffidence,  and  stood  forth 
the  sole  counsel  of  the  clients.  His  age,  appearance,  and 
habits  of  seclusion  drew  particular  attention  to  his  debut. 

He  commenced  in  a  deprecating  tone,  which  gradually 
rose  into  a  bolder  and  more  assured  enunciation  ;  the  judges 
shook  their  wigs  in  astonishment;  the  senior  bar  opened 
their  eyes,  and  his  young  colleagues  of  the  outer  bar  were 
audible  in  their  approbation.  Afier  a  masterly  plea  of  two 
hours,  he  sat  down,  and  although  there  were  ranged  against 
him  some  of  the  ablest  and  oldest  men  of  the. four  courts, 
his  case  was  triumphantly  carried.  From  that  hour  his 
reputation  was  established,  and  briefs  accumulated  on  each 
other,  until  his  blue  bag  became  one  of  the  best  filled  that 
was  ever  dragged  or  carried  by  a  nisi  prius  lawyer. 

In  1834  he  was  appointed  Solicitor  General,  by  the  Mel- 
bourne administration,  and  Avhile  in  that  important  station 
effectually  aided  the  Attorney-General,  Perrin,  in  bringing 
about  a  purer  mode  of  administering  justice  than  had  existed 
previous  to  their  time  of  office.  In  1835  he  entered  the  Brit- 
ish Parliament,  where  he  was  very  successful  as  a  debater,  and 
won  for  himself,  in  an  incredibly  short  space,  the  reputation 
of  one  of  the  best  informed  members  and  deepest  thinkers 
in  that  assembly.  Towards  the  close  of  that  year  Mr.  Per- 
rin was  exalted  to  the  bench,  and  Mr.  O'Loghlen  became 
Attorney-General  for  Ireland.  During  the  two  years  in 
which  he  continued  in  that  onerous  and  laborious  station, 
the  country  presented  a  more  peaceful  aspect,  than  for  many 
years  previous  had  characterized  the  rural  districts.  Crown 
prosecutions  were  few  and  far  between,  and  the  odious  habit 
of  setting  aside  jurors  on  account  of  their  religious  princi- 
ples, became  entirely  extinct.  From  this  sphere  he  was 
still  higher  elevated  to  the  office  of  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer. This  office  he  only  held  a  few  weeks,  when  the 
death  of  Sir  William  McMahon  leaving  vacant  the  Master- 
ship of  the  Rolls,  it  was  offered  to  him,  and  was  at  once 
accepted.  Here  then  was  a  period  to  his  promotions,  though 
not  his  honors ;  he  was  afterwards  created  a  baronet,  and 
continued  to  dispense  justice  in  judgment  until  the  summer 


137 

of  1842,  when  his  health  showing  symptoms  of  decay,  his 
physicians  advised  him  to  try  the  air  of  England,  for  which 
country  he  accordingly  departed,  leaving  his  lady  and  family 
behind  him  in  Dublin,  promising,  in  his  usual  animated 
manner,  to  return  in  a  few  months  completely  restored 
But  the  glory  of  the  judgeship  was  never  again  to  sit  upon 
the  throne  of  Justice ;  the  father  was  no  more  to  sit  de- 
lighted amongst  his  happy  family.  About  the  middle  of 
September  news  reached  his  friends  that  he  was  suddenly 
worse,  and  they  were  gently  advised  to  expect  that  death 
was  inevitable.  His  eldest  son,  the  present  Sir  Coleman, 
set  out  immediately  for  London,  but  arrived  too  late — for, 
on  Wednesday  evening,  September  the  28th,  the  just  judge 
had  breathed  his  last.  The  following  week  his  remains 
were  conveyed  from  Liverpool  to  Dublin,  and  from  that 
city,  by  slow  stages,  to  the  old  family  vault,  at  Ruan,  Co. 
Clare.  The  procession  was  everywhere  the  cause  of  the 
most  profound  sorrow ;  large  bodies  of  grown  persons 
accompanied  it  from  one  village  to  another — shops  were 
closed,  and  laborers  forgot  their  toil ;  it  was  a  unanimous 
expression  of  national  grief,  honorable  to  the  living,  and 
thrice  honorable  to  the  dead.  It  was  an  evidence  of  the 
deep,  the  ineffacable  gratitude  of  genuine  Irish  natures  to  a 
benefactor. 

As  a  judge,  O'Loghlen  seemed  perfectly  at  ease  on  the 
bench  ;  he  despatched  more  business  in  a  day  than  his  pre- 
decessors could  in  a  week.  McMahon  had  not  quickness  or 
promptitude,  and  Curran  had  far  too  much  of  the  sublimity 
of  sleepless  fancy  in  his  soul,  for  the  place  to  which  he  was 
appointed ;  but  the  late  judge  was  precisely  such  a  man  as 
Justice  herself  would  have  selected  to  fill  the  office.  Had 
emancipation  secured  no  other  benefits  to  Ireland  than  hon- 
ors for  one  such  mind  and  heart,  it  would  have  deserved  her 
gratitude. 

Sir  Michael  married  in  1811,  being  then  in  his  22d  year, 
and  for  thirty-one  years  lived  in  a  domestic  millenium,  such 
as  rarely  falls  to  the  lot  of  public  men.  He  was  the  father 
of  six  or  seven  children,  all  of  whom,  with  his  amiable  lady, 
have  survived  him. 
12# 


138 


CHAPTER  TEN. 

Irish  Transactions^  from  1830  to  '34. —  The  Reform  Bill. — 
The  Abolition  of  Tithes  demanded. —  The  Coercion  Bill. — 
Mr.  Wyse  and  National  Education. — Dr.  Doyle  and  the 
Poor-Laws. — Continuation  of  the  Repeal  Agitation. — - 

Motion  in  ParliaineTit. 

» 

Hitherto  our  course,  dear  reader,  has  been  all  towards 
one  point — the  great  result  of  1829.  Having  reached  that 
period  of  our  sketching  progress,  we  find  many  paths  di- 
verging, on  all  which  the  friends  of  Ireland  have  entered, 
seeking  some  good  for  her  people  ;  w^hile  the  Great  Leader, 
standing  on  the  apex  of  his  fame,  far  seeing,  and  speaking 
with  a  monarch's  voice,  directs,  encourages,  and  controls 
these  various  undertakings.  No  day  passes  into  night  until 
he  has  cast  some  sunshine  and  blessing  on  the  land  of  the 
West.  To  write  a  diary  of  his  correspondences,  speeches, 
and  journeys,  would  require  the  pen  of  one  of  those  strong- 
handed  chroniclers,  who,  before  the  birth  of  Guttemberg, 
transcribed  with  precision  every  syllable  of  the  great  Chris- 
tian code,  and  whole  volumes  of  ancient  authors.  From- 
the  moment  of  the  passage  of  the  emancipation  bill,  we  find 
him,  the  ambassador  of  all  Ireland  when  abroad,  and  the 
monarch  of  all  Ireland  when  at  home.  He  had  obtained 
the  power  and  popularity  of  Washington,  but  there  had  not 
as  yet  come  a  time,  when  he  could  honorably  have  returned 
the  influence  and  its  responsibility,  to  those  who  had  in- 
vested him  therewith.  Condemned  to  the  hard  labor  of 
command,  he  entered  upon  it  with  that  brisk  and  buoyant 
temper,  and  religious  fortitude,  which  hath  ever  marked 
his  career  from  the  vulgar  herd  of  prosperous  politicians. 
These  alone  could  have  been  his  support  through  the 
scenes  that  awaited  him — wherein  false  friends  laid  in 
ambush,  and  concealed  enemies  raised  unfounded  alarms — 
in  which  he  was  to  encounter  deception,  ingratitude,  malice, 
and  treachery,  in  all  their  protean  shapes  of  hideousness — 
in  which  old  bonds  of  friendship  were  to  be  rudely  rent, 
and  new  ones  broken  in  their  first  trial — in  which  all  were 


139 

to  desert  him  save  the  clergy,  the  people,  and  his  own 
indomitable  spirit.  The  first  desertion  was  that  of  the 
"moderate"  emancipationists,  who  considered  the  achieve- 
ment of  that  measure  a  sufficient  boon  for  one  generation  to 
grow  thankful  upon.  These  wheeled  off,  in  a  slow  pha- 
lanx, from  all  future  connexion  with  him  who  had  restored 
them  to  the  rights  of  conscience.  Then  followed  individual 
desertions  of  pragmatical  subalterns,  anxious  to  gain  a  tem- 
porary notoriety  by  bearding  their  great  leader — of  honest, 
but  crochety  minds,  who  could  only  see  plainly  in  one 
direction,  whilst  every  other  view  seemed  full  of  dangers, 
traps,  and  precipices,  to  their  wry  optics — of  insidious  and 
intriguing  place-hunters,  who  felt  uncomfortable  beneath 
his  penetrating  eye,  with  pliant  patriots  of  noisy  speech, 
whose  fiery  irruptions  had  long  before  exhausted  their  lava- 
like vehemence,  and  were  no  longer  anxious  to  devour  cities 
or  nations  in  their  wrath, — all  these  found  their  policy  in 
capitulation,  and  learned  to  fear  or  hate  the  gallant  chief 
who  resolved  to  keep  the  field  while  one  fortress  of  invasion 
was  still  possessed  by  the  enemy.  But,  thank  God !  we 
have  not  undertaken  to  treat  of  Mr.  O'ConnelPs  enemies, 
which  would  be,  in  good  truth,  a  herculean  task,  but  rather 
to  string  together  some  memorial  of  those  good  and  emi- 
nent men  who  were  his  assistants,  admirers,  or  friends,  and 
of  the  events  in  which  they  showed  their  patriotism  and 
fidelity. 

The  year  of  our  Lord  1831,  was  a  busy  year  for  the 
statesmen  of  the  British  empire.  Although  many  occur- 
rences of  great  importance  to  Ireland  took  place  in  that 
year,  the  magnitude  of  the  reform-bill  agitation,  in  some 
^ort  overshadowed  all  other  topics  of  the  time.  The  perti- 
nacious and  long-continued  hostility  of  the  Tories  towards 
the  people  drove  the  latter  to  desperation,  and  the  spirit  of 
agrarian  outrage  blazed  over  hamlets  and  cornfields,  destroy- 
ing alike  the  habitations  of  the  wealthy,  and  the  sustenance 
of  the  poor.  The  breach  was  completed  on  the  7th  of 
October,  by  the  rejection  of  the  reform  bill  in  the  House  of 
Lords.  The  reception  of  this  intelligence  caused  the  most 
alarming  symptoms  of  insurrection  all  over  the  country — in 
several  of  the  cities  the  muffled  bells  of  the  churches  tolled — 
noonday  mobs  rioted  in  the  streets — the  ministers'  carriages 
were  arrested  in  London,  on  their  way  to  the  Parliament 
House — even  the  services  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington  could 


140 

not  shield  him  from  the  hisses  of  the  populace.  Eoyal 
proclamations  were  torn  down  from  the  very  gates  of  the 
palace — and  the  soldiery  partook  of  the  disgrace  of  their 
king,  and  were  everywhere  treated  with  the  greatest  indig- 
nity. The  twenty-one  bishops  who  voted  against  the  meas- 
ure, were  unmercifully  caricatured — the  Bishops  of  Carlisle 
and  Durham,  and  Dr.  Phillpots,  incurred  peculiar  odium ; 
their  effigies  were  repeatedly  burned  in  various  parts  of  the 
kingdom.  A  new  ministry  had  been  formed  in  August,  of 
which  Earl  Grey  was  premier  ;  Mr.  Brougham,  with  a  title, 
Lord  Chancellor ;  Lord  Althorp,  as  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer, was  leader  of  the  House  of  Commons ;  and  Mr. 
Stanley,  {then  an  ardent  reforming  whig,  but  now  Lord 
Stanley,  a  confirmed  tory,)  was  made  Secretary  for  Ireland. 
All  the  members  of  the  new  cabinet  were  pledged  to  reform, 
and  on  coming  into  power,  Earl  Grey  and  his  friends  lost 
no  time  in  redeeming  their  promises  to  the  people.  The 
most  important  indication  of  their  anxiety  to  meet  the  ques- 
tion was  in  the  speech  from  the  throne,  on  the  dissolution 
of  Parliament,  in  the  following  November,  wherein  his 
Majesty  cordially  recommended  it  to  the  earliest  considera- 
tion of  Parliament,  in  the  ensuing  session.  But  their  aims 
were  thwarted  once  more,  by  the  bloated  lords  of  the  blood- 
stained establishment,  and  that  inflexible  old  man,  who, 
more  than  any  other,  might  have  served  the  cause  of  liberty 
in  Europe — the  Duke  of  Wellington — he,  the  most  power- 
ful subject  of  the  age,  the  most  fortunate  and  the  least  gen- 
erous, once  more  chained  the  honest  hands  which  were 
assiduously  tearing  up  the  foundations  of  the  rotten  borough 
system.  Within  six  months  there  was  a  double  change  of 
ministry ;  but  at  last,  in  the  spring  of  1832,  the  English  and 
Scottish  reform  bills  were  carried  through  both  houses,  and 
received  the  royal  assent.  There  was  a  nine-day  jubilee 
and  great  rejoicing  throughout  the  land ;  the  torch  of  the 
incendiary  was  quenched,  and  the  two  great  classes  of  the 
people  began  to  regard  each  other  with  greater  inward  re- 
spect, if  not  with  more  apparent  cordiality.  The  Catholics 
of  both  houses  were  undoubtedly  the  class  who  carried  this 
measure  ;  for  out  of  the  many  commoners  who  were  elected 
in  consequence  of  emancipation,  but  one  voted  against  it ; 
while  in  the  upper  house,  but  one  Catholic  peer  was  found 
to  oppose  it.  Thus  passed  a  measure  which  had  been 
agitated  ever  since  the  revolution,  which  previous  to  that 


141 

time  had  given  many  a  proud  head  to  the  block;  aye,  which 
brought  even  a  monarch's  thither,  and  one  worth  a  thousand 
of  the  world's  kings — the  ill-fated,  noble  Russell.  The  work 
began  by  the  stout  barons  at  Runnymede,  which  stood,  half 
finished  and  crumbling  from  exposure,  during  three  hundred 
years  of  Protestant  supremacy,  was  now  completed  by  the 
hands  of  those  who  held  the  same  faith  as  its  illustrious 
founders.  Old  Sarum  was  blotted  out — ^borough-mongering 
was  no  more,  and  that  barrier  with  which  Chatham,  Fox, 
and  Romilly  struggled  in  vain,  gave  way  before  the  muscu- 
lar strength  of  a  plebeian  Irishman  and  his  co-religionists. 

As  was  but  just,  O'Connell  and  his  friends  expected 
reciprocal  aid  from  the  English  and  Scottish  members,  who 
had  gladly  accepted  his  alliance  to  accomplish  reform  for 
themselves,  in  his  attempts  to  carry  through  an  adequate 
Irish  reform  bill.  But  many  of  these  worthies  had  no  such 
notions — they  still  wished  to  have  one  law  for  one  side  of 
the  channel,  and  another  for  the  other ;  so  that  having  ob- 
tained all  their  desires,  they  came  unwillingly  and  partially 
to  the  support  of  their  late  assistants.  The  Grey  ministry 
also  showed  great  reluctance  to  extend  the  boon  to  Ireland — 
and  when  at  last  they  stretched  their  condescension  so  far 
west,  it  was  with  so  stunted  a  grace,  that  it  seemed  more 
like  an  insult  than  a  right  conceded.  The  Scottish  reform 
bill  had  been  introduced  by  the  Lord  Advocate,  a  Scots- 
man— the  English  reform  bill  had  been  given  to  the  charge 
of  Lord  John  Russell,  an  Englishman  ;  but  the  Irish  reform 
bill  was  presented  by  Mr.  Stanley,  who  was  even  then  no 
lover  of  the  land,  and  had  been  more  than  once  censured 
for  his  anti-Irish  feelings.  It  lingered  many  months  after 
the  others  were  carried — was  maltreated  and  mutilated  in 
committee,  until,  like  Scott's  Palmer,  its  parent  would  scarce 
have  known  his  child  ;  it  was  spat  upon  by  lay  lords,  kicked 
oat  by  the  holy  fathers  in  the  upper  house,  and  after  several 
months  of  clipping,  hair-splitting,  and  re-touching,  the  ill- 
proportioned  thing  was  at  length  presented  to  royalty 
towards  the  close  of  1832,  and  received  King  AVilliam's 
assent.  And  the  result  of  all  this  was,  that  Ireland  got  an 
increased  representation  of  five  members  ! 

The  Emancipation  struggle  had  hardly  closed  when  the 
abolition  of  tithes  began  to  be  publicly  advocated,  to  the  no 
small  alarm  of  the  mitred  Nebuchadonezzars,  who  browsed 
upon  the  wide-spread  glebe  lands  of  Ireland.     The  exces- 


142 

sive  tyranny  of  tithes  was  never  so  completely  exemplified  as 
in  the  system  inflicted  upon  Ireland,  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  law  church.  A  few  proofs  of  the  enormity  of  this  sys- 
tem cannot  but  strike  terror  to  the  soul  of  him  who  is  favor- 
able to  a  church-and-state  alliance  in  any  degree.  "It  is  on 
record,"  says  an  intelligent  author,  "  that  three  bishops,  in 
fifteen  years,  left  £700,000  to  their  families.  A  bishop  of 
Clogher  went  to  Ireland  without  a  shilling,  and  after  eight 
years  died,  worth  £400,000.  The  bishop  of  Cloyne,  who 
died  in  1826,  left  £120,000  to  his  children ;  and  a  Welsh 
bishop,  who  died  recently,  although  his  bishopric  was  called 
a  poor  one,  left  £100,000. 

"  By  the  probates  at  Doctors'  Commons,  it  appeared  in 
1828,  that  the  personal  property  of  twenty-four  bishops  who 
had  died  within  the  preceding  twenty  years  amounted  to 
the  enormous  sum  of  £1,649,000,  an  average  of  nearly 
£70,000  for  each  bishop.  This  was  the  sworn  value  of 
the  personal  property  only,  and  some  of  the  bishops  are 
known  to  have  had  very  large  possessions  in  real  property. 
Now,  we  will  venture  to  assert  that  in  no  other  profession 
will  it  be  found  that  so  large  an  average  of  wealth  has  been 
left  by  the  heads ;  take  the  twenty-four  last  generals,  the 
twenty-four  last  admirals,  the  twenty-four  last  judges,  nay, 
the  twenty-four  last  merchants,  and  their  personal  property 
will  not  equal  that  of  the  bishops,  nor  approach  it. 

"  Nor  have  they  been  at  all  particular  as  to  the  mode  of 
amassing  their  wealth.  The  Earl  of  Bristol,  when  Bishop 
of  Derry,  realized  £4,000  a  year,  by  the  ingenious  practice 
of  buying  up  old  church  leases,  holden  under  himself,  and 
granting  new  ones  for  fines,  of  course,  considerably  larger 
than  the  sums  he  thus  paid.  Whether  this  practice  has 
been  continued  we  know  not ;  but  as  there  is  no  law  to  pre- 
vent it,  very  large  profits  might  be  made  by  it.'"^ 

The  next,  is  a  yet  greater  proof  of  the  avaricious  charac- 
ter of  the  Irish  law  church.  Mr.  Grattan,  on  the  12th 
of  July,  1842,  produced,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  in  a 
debate  touching  this  subject,  the  following  extracts,  from  tho 
probate  of  wills  in  Ireland,  by  which  it  appears  that, 

Fowler,  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  1-eft,  at  his  death,£150,000 
Beresford,  Archbishop  of  Tuam,  ....  250,000 
Agar,  Archbishop  of  Cashel, 400,000 

•■*  Book  of  the  Poor  Man's  Church. 


143 

Stopford,  BishjpofCork, 25,000 

Percy,  Bishop  of  Dromore, 40,000 

Cleaver,  Bishop  of  Ferns, 50,000 

Bernard,  Bishop  of  Limerick, 60,000 

Porter,  Bishop  of  Clogher, 250,000 

Hawkins  of  Raphoe, 250,000 

Knox  of  Killaloe, 100,000 

Total, £1,575,000 

From  a  publication  of  undoubted  veracity,  we  select  the 
following  statistics,  in  proof  of  this  heinous  rapacity  of  the 
Anglican-Irish  church. 

There  are  benefices  in  the  Irish  Church,  .  .  £1,556 
One  of  which  (in  the  co.  Down)  is  worth  per  an.,    2,800 

Ten,  between £2,000  and  2,600 

Twenty, 1,500     «     2,000 

Twenty-three, 1,200     "     1,500 

Forty-eight, 1,000     "     1,200 

Seventy-four, 800     "     1,000 

One  hundred  and  forty-eight,  ...  600  "  800 
Four  hundred  and  eighty-one,  .  .  400  "  600 
Three  hundred  and  eighty-six,  ...  300  "  400 
Four  hundred  and  sixty-five,  ...  30  "  200 
Number  of  acres, 669,257 

If  we  estimate  the  acres,  continues  our  authority,  at  £1 
per  acre,  it  will  yield  £660,257,  for  the  Bishops'  lands 
alone.  There  are  also  13,603,473  acres  of  land  subject  to 
tithe,  all  of  which  is  a  grievous  tax  upon  the  poor,  either  in 
the  shape  of  rent  charges  or  otherwise. 

The  report  of  the  commissioners  state  that  in  Ireland 
there  are  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  parishes  having  no 
member  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  eight  hundred  and 
sixty  parishes  having  less  than  seventy-seven  Protestants. 

Parliamentary  grants  since  the  Union  in  1800,  in  Ire- 
land : — 

For  building  Protestant  churches,    .     .     .     £525,371 

For  building  glebe-houses, 336,889 

For  Protestant  charity  schools,  ....  1,105,867 
For  Church  Society  to  discountenance  vice,  101,991 
For  Kildare  Place  Society,        170,502 

Total, £2,310,662* 

*  Black  Book  for  1844. 


144 

On  these  and  similar  facts,  equally  strong  and  unanswer- 
able, those  of  the  emancipators  who  still  retained  a  love  for 
agitation,  founded  an  Anti-Tithe  party,  which  finally  re- 
duced the  magnitude  of  the  evil,  and  divided  the  remainder, 
in  shares  between  the  landlord  and  tenant.  But  this  great 
good  could  not  be  accomplished  legally  without  much  per- 
severing exertion,  although  if  ever  people  had  cause  to  take 
to  themselves  vengeance,  it  was  in  the  war  against  tithes. 
In  1830  and  '31,  elated  by  their  past  triumph,  they  began 
systematically  to  oppose  their  collection ;  a  few  bailiffs  were 
pitchforked,  and  some  peasants  transported,  at  first.  But 
the  men  of  God  waxed  warm  in  the  conflict ;  they  resolved 
to  come  out  against  the  Philistines,  and  to  smite  them  hip 
and  thigh,  from  the  rising  to  the  setting  of  the  sun.  The 
cassock  was  flung  by,  and  their  reverences,  at  the  head  of  the 
police,  scoured  the  country,  laid  siege  to  dairies,  and  carried 
off  the  scanty  bed-clothes  of  the  poor,  with  the  most  distin- 
guished gallantry.  One  Parson  Blood  (a  fitting  name)  led 
such  a  rabble  in  a  broil  at  Skibbereen,  county  Cork,  wherein 
some  few  lives  were  taken.  Newtownbarry,  in  Wexford,  was 
the  scene  of  another  massacre,  in  which  from  twenty  to 
thirty  persons  were  killed  on  the  spot  or  mortally  wounded. 
There  was  a  young  man  sacrificed  to  the  same  desperate 
spirit  of  avarice  at  Rathcormac, "  and  he  was  an  only  son," 
— like  the  dead  youth  of  Nain, — "and  his  mother  was  a 
widow."  The  dungeons  of  the  prisons  groaned  with  the 
press  of  heroic  martyrs,  who  declared  it,  as  their  fixed  deter- 
mination rather  to  rot  in  the  humid  cells  with  manacles 
crushing  their  writhing  frames,  than  to  give  sanction  to  so 
odious  a  system,  by  obeying  its  executors.  Many,  unhap- 
pily fulfilled  the  heroic  vow,  expiring  in  the  companion- 
ship of  felons, — 

"Alas,  nor  wife  nor  children  more  for  to  behold, 
'  Nor  friends,  nor  sacred  home !" 

And  while  these  poor  victims  grew  stiff  upon  their  iron 
couches,  the  consecrated  murderers  who  sent  them  there, 
plied  their  sparkling  wine,  or  played  at  hobby-horse  in  their 
holy  nunneries.  O'Connell,  of  course,  was  one  of  the  most 
strenuous  opponents  of  the  tithe  system.  Shiel  and  Dr. 
Doyle  were  found,  as  of  old,  by  his  side ;  while  Steele, 
Lawless,  Cobbett,  and  other  able  agitators,  trod  once  more 
the  paths  in  which  previously  they  had  been  so  much 


145 

distinguished.  In  August,  183'1,  was  enacted  Stanley's 
Commutation  Tithe  Act,  which  reduced  and  re-formed  the 
impost,  and  became  law  in  November,  1834.  Lest,  how- 
ever, this  concession  should  alarm  the  church  usurious,  it 
was  accompanied  by  an  infamous  coercion  act,  which  was 
enforced  for  two  years  with  great  rigor,  and  at  its  expira- 
tion, in  1834,  was  attempted  to  be  further  extended  by  its 
author,  Mr.  Stanley,  who  from  this  and  other  matters  of 
difference  with  his  colleagues,  resigned  his  seat  in  the  cabi- 
net and  went  over  to  the  tories.  The  parsons  were  terri- 
bly annoyed  by  the  new  commutation  act ;  they  announced 
their  miseries  and  proclaimed  aloud  their  starving  condi- 
tion ;  nay,  so  far  did  they  carry  this  beggar's  opera  or  farce, 
that  they  actually  petitioned  the  treasury  fur  a  loan  of 
<£1,000,()00  sterling  to  save  them  from  utter  destitution.  A 
grant  of  £900,000  was  made,  which  was  distributed  to  "  the 
hungry,"  in  the  following  liberal  proportions  : — 

£,       s.  d. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Beaufort  received,      .     .     2,463     4  5 
The  Hon.  and  Rev.  George  de  la  Poer 

Beresford, 167     0  4 

The  same, 350  16  6 

The  Rev.  G.  D.  Beresford, 215  18  4 

The  Rev.  Marcus  Gervase  Beresford,  .      1,053  14  4 
The  Bourkes — three  of  them  Hon.  as 

well  as  Rev., 8,027     6  7 

The  Burghs, 1,195  16  8 

The  Butlers, 6,755     1  9 

The  Chichesters, 3,772   19  8 

Dr.  Cotton  of  Dublin,  (three  advances,)     4,080    19  3 

The  Crokers, 2,265     0  10 

The  Dawsons, 1,557  11  9 

The  Ebringtons, 3,612     7  0 

Thirteen  Hamiltons, 10,446  17  0 

Six  Knoxes, 2,581     4  5 

Sir  Harcourt  Lees, 420     7  0 

TenMoores, 5,329  17  5 

Four  Hon.  and  very  Rev.  Mahons,       .     3,812  16  8 

Two  Ryders,  of  Rathcormac,    ....     557  19  4 
The   Stephensons,  one  of  them  living 

in  Chester, 5,072     5  3 

Five  Hon.,  Ven.,  and  Rev.  Stopfords,       7,776     1  1 
13 


1,207  11  6 

2,063  4  1 

795  17  5 

1,291  10  3 

455  14  11 

613  10  6 

2,198  4  4 

1,892  3  0 

11  14  8 

999  99  9 


146 

The  St.  Lawrences,  (one  of  them  Van.,)  3,114    6    6 

Five  Townsends, 2,681   10     3 

Nine  Trenches— Hon.  and  Yen.,  .     .        7,710  13     7 

Three  Whittys,        

The  Archbishop  of  Cashel,  .     .     . 
The  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Cashel, 
The  Lord  Bishop  of  Clonfert,  .     . 
The  Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  .     . 
The  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Cork,    . 
The  Lord  Bishop  of  Ferns,    .     .     , 
The  Lord  Bishop  of  Kildare,   . 
The  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Kildare, 
The  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Killaloe, 
The  Dean  and  Chapter  of  St.  Cenice, 

Kilkenny, 588  13     6 

The  Vicars  Choral,  of  Kilkenny,  ...  48  7  8 
The  Vicars  Choral  of  St.  Finnbars,  Cork,  1,552  15.  4 
The  Dean  and  Chapters  and  Vicars  Choral 

of  Lishmore, 1,012     8     6 

The  Dean  and  Chapter  of  St.  Patrick^       910    2  10=^ 

This  list  contains  the  names  of  the  wealthiest  members 
of  the  church  of  England's  ministry — men  of  large  patri- 
monial inheritance,  holders  of  rich  pluralities,  and  non- 
residents. In  this  manner  the  sum  extorted  from  the  public 
pocket  was  meted  out,  to  propitiate  the  incensed  avarice  of 
these  apostolic  persons.  Before  we  quit  this  subject  for 
a  time,  we  cannot  do  better  than  append  the  following 
proofs  of  the  non-residence  of  some  chief  recipients  of 
this  princely  grant.  The  Book  of  the  Poor  Man^s  Church 
supplies  us  with  these  facts. 

"  When  a  parson  is  non-resident — when  he  can  afford  to 
live  in  Dublin,  or  Bath,  or  Chester,  or  to  roam  about  the 
country  as  a  clerical  agitator — he  is  not  to  be  reckoned 
among  those  entitled  to  receive  alms.  But  we  find  among 
the  clerical  recipients  forty  residents  in  Dublin,  exclusive 
of  the  Rev.  Charles  Boyton,  who  is  put  down  as  living  in 
Dovea,  in  Letterkenny.  Mr.  Boyton's  tithes  were  in 
arrear  for  one  year  only,  to  the  amount  of  £1089 ;  and  he 
had  an  advance  of  £912.     Was  Mr.  Boyton  one  of  the 

*  Parliamentary  Document  1834. 


147 

distressed  ?  We  have  not  the  least  doubt,  that  many  are 
entered  as  resident  clergymen,  who  are  not  so  really ;  for 
we  observe,  in  repeated  instances,  that  the  duty  of  small 
livings  is  done  by  curates,  when  the  rectors  are  said  to  be 
on  the  spot.  The  famous  Mortimer  O'Sullivan  is  said  to 
reside  at  Killeman,  Moy;  but  it  does  not  appear  that  any- 
body did  the  duty  of  his  parish,  while  he  was  notoriously 
tramping  through  England,  on  his  missions  of  bigotry. 
Several  avowedly  live  in  England;  and  among  them  we 
note  the  Rev.  Hans  Hamilton,  of  Maida  Hill,  London,  who 
had  £2,793  19s.  Id.;  and  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  James  S. 
Segar,  of  the  Circus,  Bath,  who  was  assisted  to  the  amount 
of  £2,494  lis.  9d.  So  much  as  a  specimen  of  the  non- 
resident claimants  for  relief." 

Such  was  the  tithe  question  in  Ireland  ten  years  ago ; 
we  will  have  need  to  mention  it  again. 

Simultaneous  with  the  agitation  of  the  tithe  abolitionists, 
was  another  of  great  importance,  though  of  less  stirring 
character ;  I  mean,  the  National  Education  movement,  at 
the  head  of  which,  in  Parliament,  stood  Mr.  Wyse,  the 
popular  member  for  Waterford.  This  gentleman  combined 
with  great  dignity  of  character,  talent  of  no  ordinary  de- 
scription. He  had  been  long  a  mourner  over  the  havocs  of 
the  penal  laws  ;  by  hereditary  right  he  was  a  Catholic 
agitator,  and  he  had  played  no  ignoble  part  in  some  of  those 
scenes  which  his  pen  has  well  commemorated."^  The 
chief  features  in  this  movement  were  the  withdrawal  of  the 
grant  long  continued  to  the  Kildare  Street  Society,  which 
from  an  educational  had  become  a  proselytizing  institution 
— the  enlargement  of  the  paltry  grant  to  Maynooth  Col- 
lege, and  the  establishment  of  primary  schools  throughout 
the  country,  on  the  Lancasterian  model,  without  any  attempt 
to  influence  the  religious  views  of  the  pupils.  The  benefits 
of  this  latter  plan  could  only  be  practical  as  far  as  the 
commissioners  appointed  were  faithful  and  diligent ;  there 
were  those  in  Ireland,  however,  who  resolved  that  they 
should  not  slumber  for  need  of  some  one  to  remind  them 
of  their  duty.  Amongst  the  latter,  the  Bishop  of  Maronia, 
now  Archbishop  of  Tuam,  was  the  most  powerful  sentinel 
of  the  people.     His   eye   saw  every  forthcoming  danger, 

*  History  of  the  Catholic  Association, 


us 

every  covert  attack,  and  every  insidious  favor;  and  his 
vigorous  pen  provided  remedies  against  most  of  these  evils, 
aUhough,  I  believe,  he  never  sanctioned  the  system,  as  a 
whole.  Chary  as  was  the  ministerial  provision  for  the 
education  of  the  youth  of  Ireland,  it  was  yet  a  benefit,  the 
first  of  the  sort  which  the  latter  kingdom  had  ever  received 
from  her  proud  step-sister,  who,  on  this  score,  owes  her  an 
awful  retribution. 

The  Irish  Catholic  hierarchy,  assembled  in  synod  at 
Dublin,  in  1831,  had  agreed  on  two  petitions  to  the  impe- 
rial Parliament — the  one  relating  to  the  education  of  the 
people,  and  the  other  asking  a  legal  provision  for  the  Irish 
poor.  It  was  admitted  on  all  hands  that  great  destitution 
prevailed ;  but,  as  usual,  there  were  various  remedial 
theories.  Mr.  O'Connell  demanded  employment  for  the 
able-bodied,  and  out-door  relief  for  the  old  and  infirm  ;  but 
Dr.  Doyle  contended  for  a  more  safe  and  extensive  system, 
which  should  erect  houses  for  its  purposes,  as  was  the 
case  in  England.  The  famous  letter  of  the  latter,  ad- 
dressed to  Mr.  Spring  Rice  in  1831,  had  no  small  effect 
upon  the  success  of  his  project.  To  the  reasoning  of  this 
letter,  Mr.  O'Connell  declared  himself  a  convert,  but  he 
afterwards  recanted  that  profession,  on  which  the  Doctor 
wrote  him  a  short  but  severe  rebuke.  This,  from  him,  the 
great  agitator  received  without  retort,  although  time  has 
since  vindicated  the  superiority  of  his  design  over  that  of  a 
legal  provision.  After  a  protracted  agitation  of  ten  years, 
poor-houses,  or  bastiles  bearing  that  name,  have  been 
erected  on  the  soil  of  Ireland,  where  the  mendicants  are 
separated  from  each  other — the  husband  from  the  wife,  and 
the  child  from  its  mother — where  a  bell  tolls  three  times 
per  day,  to  call  forth  the  skeletons  to  their  scant  and  unsub- 
stantial food,  and  three  times  more  to  command  them  back 
to  their  tomb-like  chambers.  Such  is  the  present  Irish 
Poor-law. 

While  these  topics  were  being  debated  in  and  out  of 
Parliament,  Mr.  O'Connell  and  his  friends  ceased  not  for  a 
moment  to  strengthen,  by  every  means  within  their  reach, 
the  Repeal  agitation.  The  many  great  wrongs  of  the 
country  afforded  them  weapons  dangerous  for  an  offensive 
war.  The  ministry  imagined  they  could  close  his  lips  by 
allowing  him  the  distinction  of  a  King's  Counsel,  and  fetter 
him.  with  a  silk  gown.     This — the  only  miniiJterial  com- 


149 

pliment  he  ever  accepted — was  conferred  upon  him  in  No- 
vember, '31  ;  but  so  far  from  diminishing-  his  zeal,  it  but 
added  to^his  desires  to  bring  back  the  plundered  Parliament 
of  '82.  A  similar  mark  of  fai'or  somewhat  later  was  con- 
ferred on  Mr.  Shiel,  with  a  more  pacific  result.  These 
things  gave  to  ardent  repealers  a  pang  of  suspicion  and 
pain,  but  it  passed  away  in  a  moment ;  for  O'Connell 
regarded  it  as  his  right  as  a  jurist,  and  continued  to  treat 
the  ministry  as  if  nothing  had  occurred.  His  independence 
galled  them  not  a  little ;  and  Earl  Grey  declared  in  the 
House  of  Lords  in  '32,  that  "  the  effect  of  the  government's 
desire  to  conciliate  Mr.  O'Connell,  was  far  different  from 
what  they  anticipated."  This  they  had  afterwards  many 
reasons  to  be  reminded  of,  but  on  no  other  occasion  more 
strongly,  than  on  the  following.  The  scene  which  took 
place  upon  the  occasion  of  the  motion  for  a  repeal  of  the 
Union,  in  1834,  is  so  well  described  by  Mr.  Huish,  (who 
was  an  eye-witness,)  that  I  cannot  refrain  from  giving  a 
portion  of  it  here  : — 

"  The  mournful  tones  of  the  death-bell — the  mercenary 
indications  of  parochial  regret — were  sounding  at  intervals 
from  the  steeple  of  St.  Margaret's  church,  as  we  passed  by 
on  our  way  to  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  evening  of 
the  22d  of  April,  the  time  appointed  by  Mr.  O'Connell  for 
his  proposition  of  a  repeal  of  the  Legislative  Union  ;  and 
we  felt  a  kind  of  cheering  presentiment  conveyed  to  us 
with  each  clang  of  the  death-knell,  so  totally  disassociated 
with  the  idea  of  mortality  which  they  were  intended  to 
convey,  that  we  involuntarily  exclaimed,  as  we  entered  the 
precincts  of  imperial  legislation — '  that  is  the  knell  of  the 
ill-starred  Union  !  From  this  night  its  decline  will  com- 
mence, and  its  dissolution  will  be  as  certain  as  that  of  the 
nameless  being,  whose  decease  is  now  sought  to  be  com- 
municated by  these  dismal  sounds.' 

"Upon  the  eve  of  great  events,  trivial  incidents  often 
serve  to  encourage  or  depress  those  whose  feelings  are  in- 
terested in  the  approaching  result;  and  there  is  scarcely  a 
circumstance,  however  trivial,  that  will  not  influence  a  mind 
excited  by  such  a  contemplation.  The  first  discussion  of 
the  question  which  involved  the  fate  of  the  Irish  nation, 
was  in  itself  an  event  sufficiently  important  to  raise  in  the 
minds  of  every  person  belonging  to  Ireland,  emotions  of  the 
13^ 


150 

strongest  nature.  They  were  not,  however,  like  those 
which  are  experienced  upon  the  eve  of  an  expected  crisis, 
for  every  one  felt  that  the  fate  of  the  Anti-Union  cause  was 
not  at  stake  in  the  impending  discussion,  nor  was  it  to  be 
retarded  by  the  defeat  that  the  numbers  on  a  division  would 
array  against  it.  It  was  the  manner  in  which  it  would  be 
discussed,  not  the  circumstances  under  which  it  would  be 
denied,  that  was  to  be  regarded — the  overwhelming  nature 
of  the  host  prepared  to  resist  it,  left  no  hope  of  encourage- 
ment fi'om  the  latter,  but  the  anticipations  connected  with 
the  effect  of  the  former  were  cheering ;  and  accordingly, 
the  friends  and  advocates  of  Repeal  waited  the  coming 
struggle  with  that  calm  confidence  which  they  who  have 
truth  and  justice  on  their  side  always  feel  when  those  pure 
and  eternal  principles  are  about  to  be  investigated.  As 
the  hour  approached  for  commencing  the  evening  sitting 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  the  lobby  became  a  scene  of 
unusual  bustle.  The  entire  representation  of  the  United 
Kingdom  was  summoned  for  the  occasion,  and  the  members 
crowded  into  the  house  at  an  early  hour  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  seats  for  the  night.  A  call  of  the  House  upon  the 
occasion  of  resistance  to  a  motion  of  one  of  the  opposition 
members,  was  a  circumstance  sufficiently  unusual  to  indi- 
cate that  the  ministers  regarded  the  question  with  no  incon- 
siderable degree  of  apprehension,  and  proved  that  they  relied 
more  upon  the  strength  of  the  numerical  force  which  they 
would  parade  against  it,  than  the  success  of  the  arguments 
and  eloquence  with  which  the  principle  of  anti-unionism 
would  be  resisted.  The  call  of  the  House  was  therefore 
an  indication  that  Mr.  O'Connell's  motion  was  regarded  as 
one  of  those  great  occasions  upon  which  the  ordinary 
attendance  of  members  was  not  competent  to  decide,  and 
accordingly  the  summoned  senate  met  en  masse  to  hear  and 
dispose  of  the  daring  proposition. 

"  Public  rumor  had  for  some  time  bruited  it  about  that 
Mr.  O'ConnelPs  proposition  was  to  be  resisted  in  the 
breach  by  Mr.  Spring  Rice,  at  the  head  of  a  strong  column 
of  financial  forces,  and  that  the  ambitious  invader  of  impe- 
rial power  was  to  be  overthrown  by  a  few  discharges  of 
vulgar  arithmetic ;  nay,  it  was  also  stated,  that  for  several 
months  entire  branches  of  the  financial  department  were 
busily  engaged  in  preparing  the  materiel  for  the  magnani- 
mous Under  Secretary,  and  that  all  he  would  have  to  do 


151 

to  put  an  end  to  tke  contest,  was  to  meet  the  a^ault  by  a 
judicious  disposition  of  the  principles  of  Cocker,  and  a 
copious  use  of  arithmetical,  instead  of  oratorical  figures. 
He,  therefore,  as  he  tripped  in  and  out  of  the  house,  be- 
came an  object  of  regard,  as  one  to  whom  the  important 
duty  of  resistance  was  entrusted ;  and,  if  we  were  to  judge 
by  his  demeanor,  he  seemed  fully  impressed  with  the  con- 
sequence which  he  seemed  to  derive  from  the  occasion, 

"  O'Connell,  for  a  few  minutes,  appeared  upon  the  lobby. 
He  had  been  in  the  house  all  the  time  during  which  an. 
election  ballot  was  proceeding.  He  now  came  to  the  door, 
as  if  he  sought  for  some  person  in  the  crowd,  A  few  per- 
sons immediately  surrounded  him  as  he  came  out,  but,  with 
his  usual  avoidance  of  common-place  colloquy,  he  soon 
broke  from  them  and  re-entered  the  house, 

"  The  election  ballot  being  terminated,  the  strangers  were 
admitted,  and  we  soon  found  ourselves  upon  a  bench  under 
the  gallery,  which  gave  us  a  full  view  of  the  entire  assem- 
bly. By  a  preliminary  arrangement  the  members  who  had 
repeal  petitions  were  allowed  to  present  them  before  the 
order  of  the  day  would  be  called  on,  and  accordingly  a  great 
number  from  various  parts  of  Ireland  were  rapidly  given  in 
without  any  other  preliminary  than  the  reading  of  their 
titles.  Mr.  Emerson  Tennant  was  the  only  person  who 
brought  up  a  petition  from  the  anti-repealers,  but  when  he 
announced  the  nature  of  the  document  to  the  House  a 
simultaneous  cheer  seemed  to  break  forth  from  both  sides, 
as  if  the  solitary  instance  of  Belfast  was  a  triumphant  coun- 
terpoise for  the  heap  of  petitions  of  an  opposite  nature 
which,  at  the  time,  seemed  to  cover  the  table.  At  length, 
the  monotonous  formalities  of  presentation  having  termi- 
nated, the  Speaker,  with  his  fine,  sonorous  voice,  called  out, 
Mr.  O'Connell.  The  mention  of  the  name  seemed  like 
'  the  chain  of  silence '  to  produce  an  instantaneous  attention ; 
and  the  mover,  rising  from  his  seat,  approached  to  the  table 
where  he  had  previously  placed  some  small  portfolios  con- 
taining the  extracts  and  documents  with  which  he  intended 
to  support  his  statement, 

"  We  had  seen  him  in  almost  all  the  various  situations 
which  his  extraordinary  political  career  afforded.  We  had 
seen  him  oftentimes  haranguing  conventions,  where  the 
green  valley  was  the  arena  and  the  vault  of  heaven  the  only 
limit  to  the  scene.     We  had  seen  him  in  all  the  variety  of 


152 

positions  which  the  arbitrary  laws,  passed  on  purpose  to 
counteract  him,  compelled  him  to  adopt,  and  yet  we  felt 
that  the  occasion  which  now  found  him  about  to  address 
the  Imperial  Senate  afforded  the  greatest  epoch  of  his  life, 
and  whether  the  cause  of  which  he  is  the  great  defender, 
failed  or  prospered,  that  the  twenty-second  of  April, 
formed  an  era  which  cast  upon  his  past  existence  a  bril- 
liancy, emanating  from  the  grand  and  magnificent  project 
which  he  now  stood  up  in  the  British  senate  to  propose. 
In  that  brief  interval,  which  elapsed  between  the  moment 
when  the  Speaker  pronounced  his  name  and  the  sound  of 
the  first  words  with  which  he  began  his  address,  an  inde- 
scribable sensation  seemed  to  pervade  the  entire  assembly. 
The  effect  was  not  produced  by  any  forethought  of  his 
capability  as  a  speaker,  for  the  members  were  familiarized 
with  the  style  and  manners  of  the  orator  who  now  stood 
before  them.  Neither  was  it  the  effect  of  that  expectation 
which  strangers  feel  prior  to  the  opening  words  of  some 
speaker,  whose  fame  has  raised  their  anticipations  of  his 
oratorical  power.  No  ! — the  associations  connected  with 
the  man,  great  and  peculiar  as  is  their  nature,  still  they 
were  secondary  at  that  moment.  It  was  the  cause — his 
cause,  and  the  consequences  of  its  triumph  with  a  misgiv- 
ing in  their  own  power  to  prevent  it,  that  awed  the  boldest 
of  its  predetermined  antagonists,  and  produced  the  almost 
breathless  stillness  which  at  that  time  pervaded  the  assem- 
bled Senate.  To  the  surprise  of  many  persons  present, 
Mr.  O'Connell  commenced  by  relating  an  anecdote  of  an 
honorable  member  who,  in  conversation  with  himself  a  few 
days  before,  had  said  that  the  Canadas  are  endeavoring  to 
escape  us — America  has  escaped  us,  but  Ireland  shall  not 
escape  us.  This  exordium,  although  it  produced  a  momen- 
tary disturbance,  seemed  however  to  enforce  a  more  reluc- 
tant but  still  greater  attention  to  his  speech  than  if  he  had 
opened  in  the  ordinary  manner,  for  it  compelled  the  mem- 
bers not  to  involve  themselves  with  the  sentiment  of  the 
pre-determined  gentleman,  by  betraying  an  unwillingness 
not  to  listen  to  the  case  which  he  was  goinq-  to  detail.  He 
reproved  the  first  slight  interruptions  by  a  timely  intimation 
that  it  was  too  soon  to  begin  them,  which  being  accompa- 
nied with  the  sanction  of  the  injunrtional  'order,  order,' 
from  the  speaker,  the  assembly,  with  exemplary  patience, 
seemed  to  resign  itself  to  the  infliction,  and  yielding  its 


153 

unwilling  attention  to  the  narration  of  English  domination 
and  Irish  endurance. 

"  The  consciousness  of  having  for  an  auditory  a  class  of 
persons  whose  interests  and  feelings  are  different,  if  not 
even  opposed  to  those  which  are  cherished  by  the  speaker, 
is  perhaps  the  greatest  disadvantage  that  is  to  be  encoun- 
tered  in  public  life,  A  promiscuous  Eissembly  will  bear 
down  the  efforts  of  the  person  that  endeavors  to  inculcate 
principles  which  are  not  held  in  general  repute ;  but,  what- 
ever allowances  may  be  made  for  the  madness  of  an  asso- 
ciation composed  of  heterogenous  elements,  no  excuse 
should  be  allowed  in  extenuation  of  such  conduct  in  a  dele- 
gated and  deliberative  assembly.  The  consciousness  even 
of  this  disposition,  without  its  overt  action,  is  in  itself  suffi- 
ciently embarrassing,  for  the  speaker  does  not  know  at 
what  part  of  his  address  the  latent  hostility  of  his  hearers 
will  rise  against  and  compel  him  to  retire.  The  attention 
with  which  Mr.  O'Connell  was  heard  throughout  his 
address  that  night  was  evidently  the  effect  of  a  discipline 
which  he  has  at  last  been  able  to  enforce,  chiefly  by  means 
of  the  constant  reproof  with  which  he  meets  those  manifes- 
tations of  his  parliamentary  unpopularity.  The  aversion 
borne  towards  him  by  the  great  mass  of  the  members  pres- 
ent, was  chiefly  indicated  by  their  avoidance  of  any  parti- 
cipation in  those  occasional  cheers  which  arose  from  a  few 
others,  whenever  any  just  or  generous  sentiment  fell  from 
his  lips, — sentiments  which  deserved  to  be  applauded,  and 
to  which  perhaps,  if  they  had  heard  them  from  any  other 
quarter,  they  would  have  responded  with  sincere  acclama- 
tions. O'Connell  was  encouraged  by  the  cheers  of  the 
Irish  voices  alone,  and,  as  far  as  any  symptoms  of  the  per- 
ception of  his  argument  by  any  of  the  English  members 
present  was  concerned,  his  orations  might  as  well  have 
been  bestowed  upon  the  inmates  of  a  deaf  and  dumb  asy- 
lum. One  solitary  occasion,  however,  betrayed  them  into 
something  like  a  stir  of  vitality.  It  was  at  that  part  of  his 
speech  where  he  bore  testimony  that  military  violence  was 
resorted  to,  in  order  to  crush  the  efforts  of  the  anti-Union- 
ists, and  described  the  meeting  at  the  Royal  Exchange, 
which  was  entered  by  a  military  party.  The  reference  to 
the  occasion  was  highly  interesting.  It  afforded  an  irresist- 
ible proof  of  the  consistency  of  the  speaker  upon  the  ques- 
tion he  was  advocating :  and  the  occasion  was  alsX>  distin- 


154 

guished  by  another  circumstance  to  which,  perhaps,  the  life 
of  any  other  public  character  does  net  supply  a  parallel. 
Amongst  various  documents,  that  relate  to  the  period  at 
which  the  Union  was  achieved,  he  read  from  Plowden's 
History  an  extract  of  a  speech  made  by  himself  upon  the 
foregoing  occasion — his  maiden  essay  upon  Irish  politics — 
from  which  it  appeared  that,  on  the  first  proposition  of  the 
Union,  he  gave  it  all  the  opposition  that  undistinguished 
youth  could  command,  and  now  that  after  an  interval  of 
five  and  thirty  years,  he  was  still  laboring,  in  the  autumn 
of  his  existence,  to  reverse  that  national  calamity  which 
thus,  in  the  opening  of  his  remarkable  and  eventful  life,  he 
had  vainly  endeavored  to  avert. 

"  It  was  evident,  both  from  the  nature  and  arrangement 
of  his  speech,  that,  as  he  had  declared  in  his  exordium, 
he  spoke  not  for  the  present  hour,  nor  adapted  his  language 
to  his  present  auditory,  and  he  evidently  treated  those  who 
were  to  oppose  him  with  a  corresponding  disregard.  Anti- 
cipating the  species  of  evidence  reserved  by  his  opponents, 
he  haughtily  taunted  Spring  Rice  with  the  pettifogging 
nature  of  the  arithmetical  logic  upon  whom  he  relied,  to 
refute  the  claims  of  a  country  containing  eight  millions  of 
inhabitants,  for  the  resumption  of  her  legislative  indepen- 
dence;  and,  observing  Mr.  Stanley  taking  a  note  during 
the  delivery  of  an  important  sentence,  he  suddenly  paused 
and  said,  that,  *  perceiving  the  Right  Honorable  Secretary 
for  the  Colonies  taking  a  note,  he  wished  to  afford  him  full 
time  to  complete  it,'  and  then  proceeded.  Upon  another 
occasion,  alluding  to  Spring  Rice,  he  inadvertently  desig- 
nated him  the  Hon.  Member  for  Limerick,  but,  immediately 
correcting  the  misnomer,  he  satirically  repeated,  with  pecu- 
liar emphasis,  'I  beg  Limerick''s  pardon,  I  should  have  said 
the  Member  for  Cambridge.^ 

"  The  speech  occupied  five  hours  in  delivery,  and  when, 
at  length,  the  mover  had  closed  his  last  impressive  sentence 
and  the  clerk  of  the  House  read  the  resolution,  we  then 
expected  to  have  seen  the  son  of  Henry  Grattan  advance  to 
second  its  proposition,  but  we  were  somewhat  surprised, 
however,  to  hear  that  Mr.  Fergus  O'Conner  had  already 
performed  that  office.  The  Speaker  immediately  pro- 
nounced the  name  of  Spring  Rice,  while  a  few  vcfices  called 
'  adjourn,'  which  conflicting  propositions  being  reduced  to 
a  motion,  the  ayes  were  declared  adverse  to  the  endurance 


165 

of  the  Under  Secretary's  eloquence  for  that  night,  and  he 
was  therefore  obliged  to  reserve  his  thunder  for  the  next. 

"  A  few  minutes  after  five  on  the  following  evening  we 
found  Spring  Rice  upon  his  legs  as  we  entered  the  House. 
He  had  just  turned  a  few  sentences  upon  the  designs  of 
the  mischievous  agitators,  which  were  intended  to  ensure 
some  encouraging  cheers  at  the  beginning  of  his  course 
and  gain  him  confidence  and  courage  to  sustain  the  very 
arduous  service  he  had  undertaken.  With  the  exception 
of  Stanley,  perhaps,  the  Treasury  bench  does  not  contain 
one  that  would  enjoy  the  ungracious  task  of  vindicating 
British  domination  over  Ireland  more  than  the  Anglo-Irish 
Under-Secretary.  He  brought  to  his  aid  the  ultra  virulence 
of  an  Irish  auxiliary  under  English  pay,  and  entered  upon 
his  duty  with  an  effrontery  that  evidently  arose  from  a  con- 
sciousness of  the  mercenary  nature  of  his  advocacy  against 
the  cause  of  that  country  to  which  he  nominally  belonged. 
Aware,  however,  that  he  was  open  to  a  reproval  for  this 
desertion  of  all  the  obligations  of  nationality,  he  took  an 
opportunity  of  renouncing  every  association  of  country,  and 
having  mentioned  the  name  of  Scotland,  he  artfully  cor- 
rected himself,  and  said  North  Britain,  and  then  in  a 
parenthesis,  he  had  the  audacity  to  insinuate  that  he 
wished  the  name  of  Ireland  should  also  undergo  a  similar 
mutation,  and  be  distinguished  in  future  geographical 
arrangements  as  West  Britain  only.  This  shameless 
admission  was  sanctioned  by  an  applauding  shout  from  the 
'  Gentlemen  of  England,'  who,  although  they  encouraged 
the  traitor,  to  serve  their  own  purposes,  must  have  secretly 
despised  the  meanness  that  could  thus  unblushingly  exult 
in  his  own  desrradation. 

"  Spring  Rice  possesses  many  of  the  requisites  necessary 
for  a  parliamentary  speaker ;  a  fluent  and  graceful  delivery, 
a  good  voice,  a  facility  of  intonation,  the  command  of  copi- 
ous and  appropriate  expressions,  with  a  judicious  arrange- 
ment of  language,  enable  him  to  sustain  a  much  greater 
consequence  on  the  Treasury  Bench  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons than  in  the  subordinate  station  he  holds  under  his 
Whig  patrons  at  .the  Treasury  Board.  He  who  is  their 
best  defender,  who,  in  the  attributes  of  oratory  is  at  least 
their  equal,  takes  his  seat  as  their  very  humble  servant  and 
secretary  at  Whitehall.  The  controversy  upon  Repeal, 
which  he  had  courted,  was  now  commenced ;  the  cham- 


156 

pions  of  either  side  were  in  the  lists,  and  Irish  skepticism  in 
the  indissolubility  of  the  Union  was  to  be  reconciled  by  a 
course  of  reasoning,  wtiich,  like  the  discussion  of  rival  dis- 
putants in  matters  of  religious  faith,  generally  was  likely  to 
render  that  skepticism  even  more  fastidiously  attached  to  its 
own  opinion  than  it  was  before  the  controversy  commenced. 
Rival  polemical  disputants  have  mostly  afforded  unbelievers 
some  advantages,  derived  from  the  different  extremities  to 
which  they  mutually  drive  each  other;  and  the  subject 
which  was  now  to  be  investigated  was  likely  to  afford  those 
who  stood  aloof  from  Unionism  on  one  side,  and  simple 
Repeal  on  the  other,  abundant  material  to  strengthen  and 
confirm  that  speculation  which  they  cherish,  but  have  not 
yet  ventured  to  extend  by  precept.  Spring  Rice  rushed 
into  the  nature  of  the  connection  between  the  two  countries 
with  a  flippancy  that  deprived  the  important  subject  of 
much  of  its  supposed  importance,  and  discussed  interna- 
tional interests  in  terms  that  considerably  diminished  pre- 
conceived notions  of  the  reciprocal  advantages  that  both 
England  and  Ireland  enjoy  from  the  compact  of  Union.  I 
am  to  describe,  however,  the  incidents  of  the  debate,  and 
the  nature  and  tendency  of  the  arguments  used  on  both 
sides.  Mr.  O'Connell  had  occupied  five  hours  during  the 
delivery  of  his  luminous  and  powerful  address;  and  Spring 
Rice,  having  the  advantage  of  a  day's  preparation,  made 
himself  up  for  a  reply  that  should  be  equal  to  the  service 
for  which  it  was  intended,  by  being  commensurate  at  least 
in  length  ;  and  from  the  prolongation  of  his  arguments  to 
a  six-hour  speech,  it  seemed  as  if  his  reliance  was  placed 
more  upon  the  length  than  the  strength  of  his  oratorical 
production. 

"  On  the  conclusion  of  Lord  Athorpe's  speech,  a  number 
of  voices  called  upon  O'Connell.  It  was  evident  that  the 
toleration  of  the  house  did  not  extend  to  the  endurance  of 
another  speech.  Mr.  Lalor  and  Mr.  E.  Ruthven  both  had 
to  give  way  to  the  inexorable  rudeness  that  prevailed ;  and 
so  impartial  was  the  House  in  its  determination  to  hear  no 
more,  that  the  efforts  of  the  Unionists  and  Anti-Unionists 
were  suppressed  with  equal  promptitude.  Mr.  Shaw  and 
Mr.  William  O'Reilly  were  denied  a  hearing,  as  well  as 
the  members  for  the  Queen's  County  and  Kildare.  Mr. 
O'Reilly  was  the  last  that  essayed  to  speak ;  and  after  he 
had  been   permitted  to  deliver  a  few  sentences,  a  voice 


157 

called  out,  in  the  most  impatient  tone,  *  O'Connell — O'Con- 
nell  I '  The  member  for  Dundalk  looked  towards  the  quar- 
ter from  whence  the  voice  proceeded,  and  said,  'I  wish  I 
could  find  out  the  gentleman  who  called  "O'Connell,"  and 
I  would  keep  him  here  all  night,  only  that  I  would  not  like 
to  trespass  upon  the  other  members  of  the  House.'  It  was 
rather  an  extraordinary  threat  of  punishment  for  one  who 
had  so  offended,  and  implied  an  acknowledgment  of  a  very 
unflattering  nature.  'I  will  punish  the  person  who  has  in- 
terrupted me,'  said  the  member  for  Dundalk,  'by  compelling 
him  to  listen  to  me  ! ' 

"  Mr.  O'Dwyer,  taking  advantage  of  a  pause  in  the  storm, 
attacked  Mr.  Shaw,  whom  he  denounced  as  an  agitator  of 
the. sinister  school,  which,  coming  at  the  close,  relieved  the 
tedium  of  the  debate  by  the  dash  of  invective  which  he 
infused  into  it.  The  patience  of  the  collective  wisdom,  how- 
ever, would  endure  no  longer;  a  simultaneous  summons 
was  given.  O'Connell  now  approached  to  the  table,  and 
there  was  silence.  He  had  not  delivered  more  than  one 
or  two  sentences,  when  we  foresaw  that  his  reply  would 
be  equal  to  any  of  his  foimer  displays  of  eloquence;  he 
appeared  to  be  now  in  the  mood  most  favorable  to  the  com- 
mand of  his  peculiar  powers.  A  degree  of  fierceness,  tem- 
pered with  levity,  rendered  him  merciless  in  invective,  and 
irresistible  in  ridicule  to  those  who  had  provoked  his  retali- 
ation by  their  personalities  in  the  preceding  debate.  Ani- 
mated almost  to  a  degree  of  exultation,  he  seemed  proud 
of  the  success  that  his  motion  had  attained,  and  the  great 
importance  that  even  its  antagonists  had  acknowledged 
to  be  attached  to  it.  Confident,  notwithstanding  the 
ablest  leaders  of  the  whig  and  tory  parties  had  combined 
against  his  cause,  that  still  their  joint  exertions  had  failed 
to  discourage  its  friends,  or  to  produce  a  crisis  fatal  to  its 
advance,  he  commenced  his  reply  under  auspices  so  favor- 
able, that  it  was  impossible  he  could  have  been  otherwise 
than  what  he  was,  throughout  the  entire  of  his  address. 

"  In  replying  to  the  personalities  that  had  been  used  by 
many  of  the  preceding  speakers,  it  was  expected  that  he 
would  have  severally  taken  up  the  individuals  who  had  in- 
dulged in  them,  from  the  mover  of  the  amendment  down  to 
the  member  for  Dundalk.  This  course,  however,  he  judi- 
ciously avoided ;  but,  in  order  that  their  conduct  should  not 
pass  unnoticed,  he  selected  from  the  band  of  his  assailants 

14 


158 

ofne  individual  only,  the  most  distinguished,  because  the 
most  virulent  of  those  who  had  followed  his  example  during 
their  participation  in  the  debate.  Before  Mr.  O'Conneli 
had  commenced  to  reply,  we  observed  Mr.  Emerson  Ten- 
nant  suddenly  leave  his  seat  behind  the  treasury  benches, 
and  rush  through  one  of  the  side-doors  that  lead  to  the 
members'  gallery ;  there,  removed  beyond  the  eye  which 
he  anticipated  would  soon  be  endeavoring  to  mark  him 
amongst  the  crowd  below,  he  seemed  to  await  the  moment 
when  the  vial  which  he  himself  had  filled,  would  be  poured 
upon  his  head.  It  came,  and  shortly  ;  for  it  was  the  first 
topic  that  he  touched  upon  after  his  exordium.  '  The  first 
person  that  assailed  me,'  said  the  speaker,  '  was  the  honor- 
able member  for  Belfast.  I  presume  he  is  in  his  place.' 
'Hear!'  said  a  voice  from  the  gallery,  and  O'Conneli  con- 
tinued— '  I  am  glad  of  it ;  and  I  now  ask,  was  there  ever 
anything  more  indiscreet  in  a  government  than  to  take 
such  a  person  as  a  seconder  of  their  motion  ?  If  I  could 
have  desired  to  have  lessened  the  effect  of  what  had  fallen 
from  me — if  I  had  desired  that  my  arguments  should  have 
as  little  weight  as  possible  in  Ireland — if  I  had  desired 
that  my  opinions  should  be  disregarded  there,  the  course 
which  I  should  have  taken,  would  be  to  have  as  my  seconder 
a  factious  and  furious  partizan,  who  would  have  pro- 
nounced an  invective  against  the  people,  their  religion,  and 
their  clergy,  and  taunted  as  "  adventurers,"  men  upon 
whom  Ae,  at  least,  ought  to  be  sparing  in  casting  such  an 
imputation.  The  government  knew  that  there  was  a  cor- 
poration inquiry,  to  forward  which,  the  greatest  anxiety  has 
been  expressed  by  them.  Now,  what  has  been  done  by 
the  honorable  member  for  Belfast  ?  Why,  with  an  equal 
love  of  truth  and  chivalry,  he  denounced,  long  since,  that 
very  inquiry  as  an  inquisition,  and  assailed  one  of  the 
commissioners  in  a  manner  that  did  not  terminate  very 
creditably  to  himself.  This  is  one  portion  of  his  political 
conduct ;  and  now  look  to  a  preceding  part  of  his  career. 
When  the  reform  bill  was  to  be  carried,  the  modern  con- 
servative was  an- old  republican.  "A  pampered  prelacy," 
and  "  the  folly  of  a  hereditary  aristocracy,"  were  then  his 
favorite  topics ;  and  these,  too,  were  expected  to  be  abol- 
ished by  him,  as  blessings  which  should  follow  from  the 
reform  bill.  And  this — this  is  the  person  the  government 
has  selected  as  the  seconder  of  their  motion,  and  whom, 


159 

also,  they  have  enthusiasticall'y  cheered,  when  he  assailed 
me  !  I  shall  not,  however,  retaliate  ;  but  I  can  imagine  a 
being  who  would  assail  me  so — a  being,  at  one  time  exult- 
ing in  all  the  fury  of  republicanism,  then  a  speculating 
adventurer,  and  dwindling  at  last  into  a  mean  and  merce- 
nary political  dandy ;  I  can  conceive  such  a  being  servile 
and  sycophantic  in  one  situation — petulant  and  presumptu- 
ous in  another — calumnious  and  contemptible  in  all.' 

*'  O'Connell  occupied  about  fifty  minutes  in  his  reply, 
which  space,  considering  that  he  noticed  almost  every 
speaker  of  any  importance  that  had  opposed  his  motion, 
proves  how  successfully  he  must  have  condensed  his  argu- 
ments within  that  compass,  and  how  little  time  he  had  for 
the  exercise  of  any  of  those  oratorical  expedients  by  which 
public  speakers  are  often  enabled  to  produce  a  considerable 
effect.  He  succeeded,  without  the  aid  of  any  of  these 
advantages,  by  the  powerful  energy  of  his  own  talents 
alone,  and  in  despite  of  a  predetermined  and  inexorable 
host  by  whom  he  was  surrounded.  If,  as  he  said,  his  first 
speech  was  not  intended  for  his  audience,  he  made  amends 
for  the  omission  by  adapting  the  second  in  a  more  decided 
manner  to  the  minds  of  his  brother  members  ;  and  although 
it  failed  to  array  them  upon  his  side  at  the  division,  the 
general  acclamation  that  burst  forth  as  he  concluded,  proved 
how  far  at  least  he  had  gained  upon  their  admiration  ana 
respect.'* 

This  debate  occupied  seven  days ;  and  when,  on  the 
29th,  the  question  was  finally  put,  there  appeared  a  vast 
majority  opposed  to  it.  The  result  was  no  sooner  an- 
nounced, than  Mr.  Spring  Eice  immediately  moved  an 
address  to  the  king  on  the  subject,  which  motion  was  also 
carried  through  both  houses  by  large  majorities.  His 
Majesty  appointed  the  1st  of  May  for  receiving  it,  which  he 
did,  according  to  report,  with  great  satisfaction. 

Thus  for  a  time  the  destiny  of  Ireland  seemed  an  endless 
dependance,  and  all  her  complaints  no  better  than  the  vain 
howlings  of  a  prisoner  in  his  subterranean  solitude.  Those 
who  feasted  and  revelled  in  their  lordly  chambers  above, 
suffered  no  thought  to  penetrate  the  distance  through  which 
they  imagined  no  voice  could  reach  them.  But  Ireland 
was  laboring  under  a  thousand  unredressed  wrongs,  and 
the  reign  of  Agitation  could  cease  only  in  the  reign  of 
Right. 


160 


CHAPTER    ELEVEN. 

Accession  of  the  Melbourne  Minutry. —  The  Five  Years* 
Truce  with  England. — Orangeism. —  The  Fruitlessness 
of  Peace. — Revival  of  Agitation. — Just  Judgment  of  the 
Whigs, 

Tee  close  of  1S34  saw  another  change  of  ministry,  a 
new  one  being  formed  of  the  old  Peel  and  Wellington 
stamp,  with  the  addition  of  the  Duke  of  Richmond  and  Earl 
Ripon,  two  members  of  the  deceased  Reform  Cabinet,  who 
loved  power  better  than  consistency.  A  repeal  of  the 
reform  bill  was  threatened,  under  pretence  of  an  amend- 
ment;  and  an  "indemnity"  of  the  established  church,  for 
the  reduction  of  tithes,  was  another  fa%'orite  project  of  the 
new  rulers.  Alarmed  at  such  prospects,  O'Connell  called 
around  him  all  the  patriotism  of  Ireland,  and  exhorted  them 
to  combine  and  stand  together,  that  they  might  thus  keep 
the  advantages  they  had  struggled  so  hard  to  obtain.  They 
formed  themselves  into  the  Anti-Tory  Association,  (on 
which  the  National  Political  Union  was  abandoned,)  and 
labored  strenuously  to  avert  from  the  empire,  more  particu- 
larly from  Ireland,  the  probable  calamities  of  a  new  tory 
regime. 

A  general  election  occurred  in  the  interim  between  the 
dissolution  of  the  Parliament  of  1S.34  and  its  re-assemblinor 
in  '3o ;  the  Irish  people,  thoroughly  aroused  to  the  impend- 
ing danger,  exerted  all  their  energies,  as  if  the  battle  of 
emancipation  was  to  be  fought  over  again ;  this  resulted 
in  the  return  of  a  large  majority  of  reformers — the  effect 
of  which  was,  the  new  cabinet  were  defeated  on  the  very 
threshold  of  their  triumph ;  the  opposition  Speaker,  (Aber- 
crombie,)  was  chosen  by  a  majority  of  ten,  and  the  speech 
from  the  throne  was  amended  by  a  majority  of  seven. 
After  a  brief  service  of  about  three  months,  Sir  Robert  Peel 
and  his  colleagues  resigned  that  power  they  had  pre- 
determined to  abuse,  and  the  Melbourne  administration 
followed. 


161 

This  new  administration  obtained  the  confidence  of  Mr. 
O'Connell,  and  could  they  have  fulfilled  their  promises, 
would  have  continued  lo  deserve  it.  They  chose  for  Lord 
Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  Earl  Mulgrave,  now  Marquis  of 
Normanby,  a  statesman  of  enlarged  views,  and  distin- 
guished for  liberality.  They  gave  him  for  Secretary,  Lord 
Morpeth,  one  of  the  purest  and  most  high-minded  of  Eng- 
lishmen ;  they  placed  Perrin  and  O'Loghlen  in  the  two 
highest  Irish  legal  offices  ;  they  made  Mr.  More  O'Ferall 
an  under  Lord  of  the  Treasury;  Shiel,  Master  of  the  Mint, 
and  disbanded  the  Orange  faction.  Surely,  such  a  com- 
mencement auofured  well  to  Ireland  from  their  future  leg-isla- 
lion.  The  prime  sin  of  the  Grey  administration  had  been 
their  patronage  of  tories,  on  which  rock  they  split.  That 
premier  was  also  unfortunate  in  the  choice  of  his  subordi- 
nates, for  there  could  not  have  been  a  worse  selection  for 
Ireland,  than  the  Marquis  of  Anglesea  and  Mr.  Stanley. 
Both  hated  0"Connell,  as  if  by  instinct  ;  and  his  feelings 
towards  them  were,  from  the  first,  of  the  most  hostile  de- 
scription. But  when  these  worthy  gentlemen  laid  violent 
hands  on  the  father  of  the  Irish  people,  and  attempted  to 
incarcerate  his  person,  they  showed  too  plainly  how  unfit 
they  were  for  the  station  they  held.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  this  circumstance  hastened  the  fall  of  Lord  Grey, 
and  facilitated  the  rise  of  Melbourne.  The  latter  saw 
clearly  through  the  great  blunder  made  by  his  predecessor, 
and  he  solemnly  resolved,  and  publicly  vowed,  to  take  the 
warning.  But  the  vow  did  not  last  many  years ;  and  the 
lesson  fors^otten  brought  on  a  similar  punishment.  Lord 
Melbourne  resolved  to  steer  wide  of  such  an  error  ;  but, 
unhappily  for  liberal  principles,  he,  like  many  another  poli- 
tician, while  avoiding  Scylla,  ran  plump  into  Charybdis. 

On  Monday,  May  11th,  lS3o.  the  new  \-iceroy  arrived 
in  Ireland,  having  been  recalled  from  the  crovernment  of 
Jamaica, — where  his  departure  was  regarded  as  a  public 
calamity, — to  preside  over  the  destinies  of  another  island  of 
slaves.  His  reception  was  on  a  scale  of  unusual  magnifi- 
cence ;  triumphal  arches,  decked  in  the  glowing  produc- 
tions of  surviving  looms — the  earnest  faith  of  the  people — 
the  hoarse  voices  of  the  cannon,  and  the  brilliant  corleges 
which  blocked  the  magnificent  streets  of  the  long-misruled 
metropolis — were  all  promissory  of  better  times  for  Ireland. 

But  cold  would  have  been  that  noble  viceroy's  welcome, 

14# 


162 

had  he  not  come  from  England  with  a  character  endorsed 
by  the  eulogium  of  O'Connell.  This  was  the  secret  of  the 
clamorous  joy  which  everywhere  met  the  ear,  and  of  the 
costly  exhibitions  of  remaining  grandeur,  which  neither 
crown  nor  coronet,  wealth  nor  promises,  could  have  pro- 
cured for  an  untried  ruler,  from  that  justly  suspicious  race. 
But  Lord  Mulgrave  in  the  sequel  showed  himself  not  un- 
worthy of  the  cead  miUe  failthee  '^  he  had  received ;  and 
had  his  colleagues  in  the  cabinet  of  England,  endeavored 
to  earn  an  honest  popularity  by  a  like  upright  and  consis- 
tent course,  the  Melbourne  administration  might  have  held 
the  reins  until  this  day.  Not  only  Mulgrave,  but  the  whole 
cabinet  had  been  vouched  for  by  Mr.  O'Connell ;  and  the 
earlier  measures,  as  well  as  appointments  of  their  making, 
fully  justified  the  confidence  he  asked  for  them. 

With  a  momentary  interruption,  this  ministry  retained 
power  until  1840.  Within  that  period,  many  great  con- 
cessions were  made  to  Ireland  by  the  imperial  legislature, 
at  the  instance  of  Mr.  O'Connell.  Of  these  the  chief  were 
the  Irish  church  reform  bill,  and  the  Irish  corporate  reform 
bill.  By  the  provisions  of  the  first,  tithes  were  lessened 
from  75  to  68  per  cent. ;  by  the  operation  of  the  second, 
municipal  religious  tests,  and  municipal  Orange  exclusive- 
ness  have  been  abolished.  Both  were  assuredly  triumphs 
of  no  secondary  order;  they  were  a  necessary  sequel  to 
the  emancipation  act.  The  operation  of  the  latter  has  been 
attended  with  the  most  gratifying  results,  since  within  two 
years  last  past,  we  have  seen  the  five  chief  cities  of  the 
country  presided  over  by  mayors  of  the  long-proscribed 
Roman  Catholic  persuasion.  Dublin  rejoiced  in  the  pater- 
nal care  of  O'Connell,  and  forgot,  for  a  time,  her  misery 
and  altered  state  in  the  honor  conferred  on  her  by  such  a 
choice.  The  southern  cities,  and  even  Derry,  forgot  an- 
cient feuds  ;  and  at  the  civic  board,  the  high  courtesy  of 
honorable  minds  succeeded  the  narrow  and  gloomy  bigotry 
of  an  associated  privileged  sect.  But  for  these  blessings, 
the  House  of  Lords  took  care  Ireland  should  owe  them 
nothing.  They  had  gone  to  the  most  indecent  extremities 
in  their  opposition  to  these,  as  well  as  to  all  other  necessary 
and  commendable  changes. 

One  of  the  earliest  and  most  important  services  of  the 

*  Anglice — A  hundred  thousand  welcomes. 


163  - 

new  ministry,  was  their  expose  of  the  nefarious  system  of 
secret  combinations  called  Orange  Lodges.  Of  all  the  for- 
midable conspiracies  which  ever  fettered  government,  or 
thwarted  social  advancement  amongst  a  people,  this  was 
assuredly  the  most  criminal  and  destructive.  From  long- 
continued  impunity,  its  leaders  at  last  lost  all  sense  of 
shame  and  honor,  and  their  annual  processions  on  the  anni- 
versaries of  the  chief  victories  of  William  the  Third,  were 
marked  with  blood  and  sacrifice  in  the  memory  of  the 
empire.  But  the  northern  province  of  Ireland  was  their 
great  stronghold.  The  fertile  valleys  of  Tyrconnel,  the 
broad  lands  of  O'Neil,  the  picturesque  patrimony  of  Ma- 
guire,  and  the  rich  domains  of  Mageinns,  had  been,  in  the 
16ih  and  17th  centuries,  torn  from  their  legitimate  proprie- 
tors, and  bestowed  upon  adventurous  Scots,  bestial  Hes- 
sians, and  the  promiscuous  followers  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange.  These  races  combining  together  in  the  north, 
and  conscious  of  the  illegality  of  their  title-deeds,  strove  by 
exciting  feuds  and  jealousies  between  the  two  kingdoms,  to 
retain  the  Catholics  in  bonds,  and  to  attract  toward  them- 
selves all  the  fat  of  the  land,  with  the  approbation  of  the 
English  governors.  Though  some  amongst  them  knew  and 
practised  a  better  creed,  the  immense  majority  had  bitterly 
opposed  emancipation,  and  all  the  smaller  concessions  that 
followed  in  its  train.  It  was,  therefore,  a  victory  to  the 
Irish,  when  a  committee  was  appointed  by  Parliament,  on 
the  23d  of  March,  1835,  to  inquire  into  the  nature,  oaths 
and  obligations  of  this  confederacy.  On  the  4th  of  August 
following,  Mr.  Hume,  the  chairman  of  this  committee, 
introduced  the  annexed  resolutions,  as  containing  the  min- 
utes of  evidence  examined  before  them,  and  their  opinions 
thereon : — 

Resolution  1.  That  it  appears,  from  the  evidence  laid 
before  this  House,  that  there  exists  at  present,  in  Ireland, 
more  than  fifteen  hundred  Orange  Lodges,  some  parishes 
containing  as  many  as  three  or  four  Private  Lodges,  con- 
sisting of  members  varying  in  number  from  sixteen  to  two 
hundred  and  sixty,  acting  in  communication  and  correspon- 
dence with  each  other,  and  having  secret  signs  and  pass- 
words as  bonds  of  union,  and  all  depending  on  the  Grand 
Lodge  of  Ireland. 

Kesolution  2.     That  the  Orange  Institution  of  Ireland 


164 

is  unlimited  in  numbers,  and  exclusively  a  Protestant  As- 
sociation ;  that  every  member  must  belong  to  a  private 
lodge,  to  which  he  is  admitted  under  a  religious  sanction, 
and  with  a  religious  ceremony,  carrying  a  Bible  in  his  hands, 
submitting  to  certain  forms  and  declarations,  and  taught 
secret  signs  and  pass-words. 

GENERAL  RULES  OF  THE  ORANGE  INSTITUTION. 

"No.  1.  The  Orange  Institution  consists  of  an  unlim- 
ited number  of  brethren,  whose  admission  is  not  regulated 
by  any  other  test  than  those  of  their  religious  character  and 
principles. 

"  2.  No  person  who  at  any  time  has  been  a  Roman 
Catholic  can  be  admitted  into  the  Institution,  except  by 
special  application  to  the  Grand  Lodge,  or  Grand  Com- 
mittee, accompanied  by  certificates  and  testimonials,  trans- 
mitted through  the  Grand  Secretary  of  his  county,  which 
shall  be  so  perfectly  satisfactory  as  to  produce  an  unani- 
mous vote  on  the  occasion. 

"  3.  Any  member  of  the  Orange  Institution  who  shall 
print  or  circulate  anything  connected  with  the  Institution 
affecting  its  character,  or  the  character  of  any  of  its  mem- 
bers, without  the  sanction  of  the  Grand  Lodge,  or  of  the 
Grand  Committee,  shall  be  expelled  by  the  Grand  Lodge. 

"  4.  That  every  member  of  the  Orange  Institution  shall 
belong  to  a  Private  Lodge,  and  that  no  person  shall  be  pro- 
posed as  a  member  of  a  committee,  unless  the  Lodge  to 
which  he  belongs  is  mentioned." 

Resolution  3.  That  no  Lodge  can  be  constituted  without 
a  warrant  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Ireland,  signed  by  the 
Grand  Master  and  office-bearers  for  the  time  being,  and 
having  the  seal  of  the  Grand  Lodge  thereto  affixed. 

COPY  OF  A  WARRANT  OF  THE  "  ORANGE  INSTITUTION." 

X,      >  Statue  of  William  III.  \  ^t..  ^  .\    . 
18 —  \  /  "^District  of 


"  By  virtue  of  this  authority, 
our  well  beloved  Brother  Orange-man  of  the  Purple  Order 
(and  each  of  his  successors)  is  permited  to  hold  a  Lodge, 

No.  ,  in  the  county 

and  district  above  specified,  to  consist  of  True  Orange- 


165 

MEN,  and  to  act  as  Master,  and  to  perform  the  requisitions 
thereof. 

(County  Seal)         Given  under  our  Great  Seal. 

(Great  Seal.) 

(Copy.)  Ernest,  Grand  Master. 

(Copy.)  Enniskkillen,  Deputy  Grand  Master. 

(Copy.)  Henry  Maxwell,  Grand  Secretary. 

(Copy.)  Wm.  Swan,  Deputy  Grand  Secretary. 

(Copy.)  Alex.'r  Percival,  Grand  Treasurer. 

(Copy.)  H.  R.  Baker,  Deputy  Grand  Treasurer. 

Countersigned  by 

County  Grand  Master." 

I  am  authorized  to  state,  on  the  part  of  the  Grand  Orange 

Lodge  of  Ireland,  that  a  marching  warrant  only  diifers  from 

this,^  in  the  district  being  filled  up  thus  :  "  District  of 

Regiment." 

•      HENRY  MAXWELL,  Grand  Sec. 

COPY  OF  RULES  FOR  PRIVATE  LODGES. 

"  No.  23.  No  Private  Lodge  shall  be  held  without  the 
authority  of  a  warrant  from  the  Grand  Lodge,  signed  by 
the  Grand  Master,  a  Deputy  Grand  Master,  the  Grand 
Secretary,  Deputy  Grand  Secretary,  Grand  Treasurer,  and 
Deputy  Grand  Treasurer,  and  countersigned  by  the  Grand 
Master  or  Deputy  Grand  Master  of  the  County,  and  sealed 
with  the  seals  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Ireland,  and  of  the 
Grand  Lodge  of  the  county  in  which  such  Lodge  shall  be 
held. 

"24.  All  applications  for  warrants  shall  be  made  through 
the  District  Lodges,  in  the  County  Grand  Lodge,  to  be 
thence  forwarded  to  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Ireland,  under 
their  respective  seals,  transmitting  therewith  the  sum  of  one 
guinea;  with  renewals,  the  sum  of  five  shillings." 

COPY  OF  A  RESOLUTION  OF  THE  GRAND  COMMITTEE  APPOINTED 
BY  RULE  NO.  18  OF  THE  GRAND  LODGE. 

[See  Resolution  No.  4.] 

Moved  by  Rev.  C.  Boyton,  seconded  by  Francis  Kier- 
man. 

April  22,  1830. 

"  That  this  Committee  recommended  to  the  Grand  Orange 
Lodge,  at  its  meeting  on  the  5th  of  May,  to  establish  a  law, 


166 

that  all  warrants  in  future  be  signed  alone  by  the  Grand 
Master,  His  Royal  Highness  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  by 
the  senior  D.  G.  M.  of  Ireland,  the  Grand  Secretary  of  Ire- 
land, and  countersigned  by  the  County  Grand  Master. 

"  W.  Brownrigg,  Chairman. 

"  Thomas  Nixon,  A.  G.  I." 
Resolution  4.  That  it  appears  by  the  laws  and  ordi- 
nances of  the  Orange  Institution  in  Ireland,  dated  1835, 
that  the  Secretary  of  each  Private  Lodge  is  directed  to  re- 
port to  the  Secretary  of  the  District  Lodge ;  the  Secretary 
of  each  District  Lodge  to  report  to  the  Grand  Secretary  of 
the  County  Lodge ;  the  Grand  Secretary  of  the  County 
Lodge  to  report  to  the  Deputy  Grand  Secretary  of  the 
Grand  Lodge  in  Dublin ;  and  the  Grand  Lodge  to  hold 
meetings  at  stated  periods,  to  transact  ordinary  business  ot 
the  society  :  and  the  Deputy  Grand  Secretary  of  the  Grand 
Lodge  to  communicate  half  yearly  to  each  Lodge  in  Ireland, 
and  also  to  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Great  Britain. 

COPY  OF  RULES  FOR  PRIVATE  LODGES. 

"  No.  5.  The  Secretary  of  each  Lodge  to  make  a  return 
as  soon  as  possible  after  the  regular  meeting  in  February 
to  the  District  Secretary  of  the  names  and  residences  of  the 
several  officers  in  his  Lodge,  together  with  its  place  of 
meeting  and  post  town,  and  number  of  its  members. 

"  13.  Masters  of  Lodges  shall  make  returns  to  their  Dis- 
trict Masters  of  the  names  and  residences  of  the  members 
of  their  respective  Lodges,  at  the  district  meeting  in  March. 

"  14.  In  order  to  establish  a  fund  to  defray  the  expenses 
of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Ireland^  each  lodge  shall  transmit 
a  subscription  of  not  less  than  2s.  6d.  annually  to  the  County 
Treasurer,  to  be  by  him  forwarded  (at  the  same  time  with 
the  return  of  the  County  Grand  officers  in  April)  to  the 
Deputy  Grand  Treasurer  of  Ireland." 

RULES  FOR  DISTRICT  LODGES. 

"  No.  3.  District  Masters  shall  make  returns  to  the 
County  Grand  Lodges  of  the  names  and  residences  of  the 
brethren  in  their  districts,  and  of  individuals  rejected  or  ex- 
pelled within  said  district,  at  the  county  meetings  to  be  held 
in  April. 

"  5.  The  Secretary  of  each  District  shall  make  a  return^ 
as  soon  as  possible  after  the  regular  meeting  in  March,  to 


167 

the  County  Grand  Secretary,  of  the  names  and  residence 
of  the  several  officers  in  his  District  Lodge,  together  with 
the  name  and  residence  of  each  of  the  Masters  and  Secre- 
taries of  the  Private  Lodges,  their  places  of  meeting  and  post 
towns,  with  the  number  of  members  in  each;  and  ivhereve? 
the  County  Grand  Lodge  is  not  formed  of  the  district  officers, 
the  Secretary  of  each  Lodge  shall  make  a  return  to  the 
County  Secretary,  similar  to  the  one  to  be  made  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  district." 

RULES  FOR  COUNTY  LODGES. 

"  No.  6.  The  Grand  Master  of  the  Counties  shall  make 
returns  to  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Ireland,  of  the  names  and 
residences  of  the  brethren  in  their  counties,  at  the  meeting 
of  the  Grand  Lodge  in  May. 

"7.  The  Grand  Secretary  •  shall  make  a  return  of  the 
County  Grand  Officers  to  the  Grand  Committee,  within  one 
week  after  the  election. 

"  8.  The  Grand  Secretary  of  each  county  shall  make  a 
return  as  soon  as  possible  after  the  meeting  in  April,  to  the 
Deputy  Grand  Secretary  of  Ireland,  of  the  names  and  res- 
idences of  the  several  District  masters  in  his  county,  to- 
gether with  the  names  and  residences  of  the  Masters  and 
Secretaries  of  the  several  Private  lodges,  places  of  meeting 
and  post  town,  as  also  the  number  of  members  in  each 
Lodge. 

"  The  Grand  Secretary  shall  make  a  return  to  the  Grand, 
Lodge  of  Ireland^  of  the  names  and  residence  of  all  persons 
rejected  or  expelled  within  their  respective  counties,  at  the 
meeting  in  May." 

RULES  FOR  GRAND  LODGE. 

"  No.  2.  The  Grand  Lodge  of  Ireland  shall  have  two 
stated  meetings  in  the  year,  viz.,  in  May  and  November. 

"  The  Grand  Lodge  shall,  after  the  general  election  of  offi- 
cers for  the  ensuing  year,  proceed  to  transact  their  ordinary 
business. 

"  12.  The  Grand  Officers  of  Great  Britain  are  members 
of  the  Grand  Lodge. 

"  13.  All  members  of  the  Grand  Lodge  are  members  of 
every  other  Lodge  in  the  kingdom. 

"  14.  No  member  of  the  Grand  Lodge  whatsoever,  shall 
be  allowed  any  privilege  as  such  until  he  has  paid  his 
subscription  for  the  current  year,  of  one  guinea. 


16S 

"17.  The  Deputy  Grand  Secretary  shall  communicate 
in  the  half  yearly  report  to  each  Lodge  in  Ireland,  and  tc 
the  Grand  Lodge  of  Great  Britain,  the  names  and  resi- 
dences of  all  persons  that  are  rejected  or  expelled  from 
the  Orange  Institution. 

"  18.  The  duty  of  the  Grand  Committee  shall  be,  to 
watch  over  the  interests  of  the  Orange  Society  while  the 
Grand  Lodge  is  not  sitting,  and  to  decide  upon  applications 
from  subordinate  Lodges,  conformably  to  the  mles  of  the 
Institution,  as  the  exigencies  of  the  different  cases  coming 
within  their  knowledge  may  appear  to  require.  All  the 
acts  of  the  committee  shall  be  submitted  to  the  scrutiny  of 
the  Grand  Lodge  at  its  ensuing  meeting. 

"  1.  All  official  communications  sent  to  the  Grand 
Lodge,  or  the  Grand  Committee,  shall  be  transmitted 
through  the  County  Grand  Secretary,  or  grand  officer  hold- 
ing the  county  seal,  and  sealed  with  the  same." 

Resolution  5.  That  Orange  Lodges  have  individually 
and  collectively  addressed  his  Majesty,  both  Houses  of  Par- 
liament, the  Lord  Lieutenant,  and  others,  on  special  occa- 
sions, of  a  political  nature,  such  as  on  the  subject  of  the 
Colonies,  the  Change  of  Ministry,  the  Education  of  the  Peo- 
ple, the  Repeal  of  the  Union,  Catholic  Emancipation,  and 
Reform  of  Parliament. 

EXTRACTS    FROM    BOOKS    OF    PROCEEDINGS     OF    COMMITTEE    OF 
GRAND  ORANGE  LODGES  OF  IRELAND. 

"  That  the  Rules  submitted  by  the  D.  G.  S.  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  colonies  be  adopted,  and  that  publicity  be 
given  to  the  same." 

Moved  by  J.  Butler,  )  pegged 

Seconded  by  J.  H.  Jeboult,  ) 

"  That  the  address  to  the  King  on  the  subject  of  the 
Colonies  be  adopted,  and  forwarded  to  the  Trustees  for  sig- 
nature.    31st  Oct.,  1829."     [Vide  Appendix.] 

5th  May,  1832. 

"  [Appendix  76.]  That  circulars  be  forwarded  to  the 
several  Masters  of  the  Orange  Lodges  in  Ireland,  request- 
ing them  to  procure  petitions  from  their  several  lodges,  to 
both  Houses  of  Parliament,  against  the  new  Irish  Ediica- 
tion  system,  also  against  the  Irish  Reform  Bill,  and  to  for- 
ward them  without  delay  to  the  Right  Honorable,  the  Earl 
of  Roden,  House  of  Lords,  London,  endorsed, '  Parliamen- 
tary Petition.' " 


169 

28th  November,  1828. 

"  Eesolved,  That  we  deem  it  essential  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  oar  Protestant  constitutions,  that  we  should  co-ope- 
rate with  the  committee  of  the  Brunswick  Club  in  procuring 
and  obtaining  signatures  to  Petitions,  to  be  presented  to  his 
Majesty,  and  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  against  further 
concessions  to  persons  professing  the  Popish  or  Roman 
Catholic  Religion." 

Resolution  6.  That  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Ireland  has  in- 
terfered in  political  questions,  and  expelled  members  for  the 
exercise  of  their  constitutional  and  social  rights ;  has  inter- 
fered at  elections  and  defended  criminal  prosecutions,  as 
appears  from  the  evidence  and  from  the  minutes  of  pro- 
ceedings in  the  book  of  the  Grand  Lodge,  produced  before 
the  select  committee. 

[Q.  1935.]  "  That  Mr.  Archibald  Fisher  was  expelled 
the  Society,  for  canvassing  and  being  an  active  partizan, 
and  heading  processions  of  bodies  of  men  whose  principles 
may  be  judged,  from  their  shouting,  'O'Connell  and  the 
Repeal  of  the  Union.' 

[Q.  1937.]  "  That  John  Hitton  was  removed  from  the 
Committee  of  the  Grand  Lodge,  for  not  having  voted  at  the 
late  city  election,  that  being  on  the  9th  of  June,  1831. 

[Q.  1938.]  "  That  the  Grand  Committee  be  directed  to 
remove  from  the  list  of  officers  of  the  Grand  Lodge  the 
name  of  any  person  or  persons  supporting  the  Reform  Bill. 
as  proposed  by  his  Majesty's  present  government. 

[Q.  1939.]  "  That  the  Rev.  Henry  Cottingham  and  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Willis  were  expelled  the  institution  on  the 
8th  June,  1831,  for  sacrificing  their  principles  as  Orange- 
men, by  voting  for  the  reform  candidates." 

EXTRACTS    FROM   THE    APPENDIX. 

"  1st  September,  1831. 
"That  Major  Brownrigg  be  expelled  from  this  commit- 
tee, in  consequence  of  his  conduct  at  the  recent  election  in 
Dublin,  and  that  his  expulsion  from  the  institution  at  large 
be  recommended  to  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Ireland,  and  that 
a  copy  of  this  resolution  be  forwarded  to  the  King's  County 
Grand  Lodge. 

"  12th  February,  1833. 
"  That  the  sum  of  £10  sterling  be  placed  at  the  disposal 
of  brother  M'Neale,  for  the  purpose  of  defending  an  Orange- 
man, at  present  in  the  gaol  of  Dundalk, 
15 


170 


"  24tli  December,  1834. 

"That  a  document  be  prepared  to  be  forwarded  to  the 
Orange  electors  of  the  city  of  Armagh,  calling  on  them 
most  strongly  to  support  a  Protestant  candidate,  and  give 
their  most  determined  opposition  to  the  return  to  Parlia- 
ment of  Mr.  Dobbin,  or  any  other  person  professing  the 
same  radical  principles." 

Resolution  7.  That  it  appears  by  the  books  of  the  Grand 
Lodge  of  Ireland,  produced  by  its  Deputy  Grand  Secretary, 
before  the  Select  Committee  of  this  House,  the  undermen- 
tioned warrants  for  constituting  and  holding  Orange  Lodges 
have  been  issued  to  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates 
of  the  following  regiments  of  Cavalry  and  of  Infantry  of  the 
Line,  at  home  and  abroad ;  to  non-commissioned  officers  of 
the  Staff  of  several  Militia  regiments ;  to  members  of  other 
corps  and  to  the  Police,  namely : — 


No.  of 

Question  in 

evidence. 

2244 


2245 


2253 


No.  of  the  Warrant 

in  the  Register  of  the 

Grand  Lodge  of  Ireland. 


The  name  of  the  person  to  whom 
of  the  regiment, 
and  date  of  warrant. 


granted ; 


2269 
2271 


2273 


155 


334 


415 


506 
564 


567 


568 
859 


878 


To  John  Thompson,  Glass- 
lough,  Monaghan,  Militia 
Staff,  24lh  Sept.,  1828. 

D.  Thompson,  24th  regi- 
ment, (marching  warrant,) 
1st  Oct.,  1829. 

Peter  Duff,  Fermanagh  Staff, 
(marching  warrant,)  30th 
Jan.,  1835. 

Marching  warrant,  (see  Ap- 
pendix, p.  54.) 

Marching  warrant,  (see  Ap- 
pendix, p.  54,)  15th  regi- 
ment, 15th  Sept.,  1830. 

John  Kennedy,  Dublin,  1st 
Dragoon  Guards,  26th 
Dec,  1831. 

Marching  warrant,  (see  Ap- 
pendix, p.  54.) 

George  Agnew,  59th  regt., 
22d  Oct.,  1833. 

Marching  warrant,  (see  Ap- 
pendix, p.  56.) 


171 

Samuel    Scott,    Cork,    89th 

regiment,  1st  May,  1834. 
James    Gresson,  Cork,   70th 

regiment,  1st  May,  1834. 
Colin  Danlop,  79th  regiment, 

(marching    warrant,)     3d 

Jan.,  1827. 
J.   N.   Henry,  4th    Dragoon 

Guards,  1st  April,  1835. 
7th  regiment,  (marching  war- 
rant,) 28th  April,  1835. 
James     Gillespie,    regiment, 

Armagh,  20th  February, 

1829. 
J.  Meineigh,  1st  regiment  of 

foot,    city   of    Derry,   2d 

January,  1834. 
W.   Gutteridge,    Fermanagh 

Staff,  (marching  warrant,) 

24th  Sept.,  1828. 
J.  Fisher,  81st  regt.,  Dublin, 

17th  September,  1832. 
Robert  Moore,  15th  Hussars, 

25th  March,  1835. 
J.  Meineigh,  1st  Royal  Foot 

regiment,     Londonderry, 

7th  June,  1834. 
2295  1725  W.    Evans,    85th   regiment, 

county  of  Limerick,  14th 

March,  1834. 
John  Maberty,  83d  reg.,  11th 

September,  1832. 
R.   Taylor,  2d  battalion  1st 

Royals,  25th  March,  1835. 
Sergt.  N.  Hanna,  60th  reg., 

1st    battalion,    1st    May, 

1829. 
Henry  Nicols,  50th  regt.,  4th 

July,  1832. 
Thomas  Pownall,  80th  reg., 

8th  August,  1832. 
Alexander  Mortimer,  senior, 

depot  32d  regiment. 


2275 

879 

2270 

876 

2274 

1115 

2277 

1372 

2278 

1390 

2284 

1406 

2287 

1412* 

2288 

1433 

2291 

1501 

2292 

1537 

2293 

1592 

2296 

1740 

2297 

1765 

2298 

1775 

2299 

1780 

2300 

1781 

2301 

1831 

172 

EXTRACTS   FEOM   BOOK   OF   PROCEEDINGS    OF    COMMITTEE    OP 

GEAND   LODGE. 

"  1st  January,  1834. 
"  Resolved,  That  warrant  No.  1592  be  granted  to  Joseph 
Meineigh,  of  the  First  Royals,  on  the  recommendation  of 
brother  Adam  Schoales  of  Derry.  N.  D.  Cromelin. 

"25th  March,  1835. 
Present : 
N.  D.  Cromelin,  Chairman. 
Rev.  R.  Handcock,  Hugh  R.  Baker, 

Annesley  Hughes,  William  R.  Ward, 

Sir  D.  J.  Dickenson,  Allan  Ellison, 

James  C.  Lowry,  William  W.  Childers, 

Thomas  Marshall,  John  J.  Butler, 

Thomas  J.  Stoney,  John  0.  Jones, 

James  Jones,  William  Swan. 

"That  warrant  No.  1537  be  granted  to  brother  Robert 

Moore,  for   the   15th  Light   Dragoons."     Moved   by  W. 

Swan,  and  seconded  by  J.  0.  Jones. 

"That  Lodge  1575  be  permitted  to  initiate  Mr.  Talbot, 

formerly  a  Roman  Catholic."     Moved  by  J.  C-  Lowry — 

seconded  by  Wm.  Swan. 

"  That  a  warrant.  No.  1765,  be  granted  to  R.  Taylor  for 

second  battalion  of  the  First  Royals." 

"  1st  April,  1835.    • 
Present : 
N.  D.  Cromelin,  Chairman. 
Rev.  R.  Handcock,  George  W.  Breton, 

John  Mayne,  William  W.  Childers, 

Isaac  Butt,  Hugh  R.  Baker, 

W.  C.  Epsy,  Stewart  Blacker, 

H.  Murphy,  William  Swan. 

"  That  warrant  1372  be  granted  to  brother  J.  N.  King, 
for  the  4th  No.  on  the  Dragoon  Guards." 

EXTRACTS    FROM    BOOK    OF   WARRANTS. 
Register. 

155     John  Lee,  Glasslough,  Militia   Staff,  Monaghan, 

Nov.  18,  1823. 
1309     John  Little,  25th  regim.ent  of  foot,  Oct.  4,  1823. 
1406     Serjeant  John  M'Mullen,  Militia  Staff,  Armagh, 

March  8,  1824. 
1623     John  Bushill,  1st  Royals,  July  28,  1824. 


173 

4632     Francis  Kennedy,  County  Limerick  Police,  Co. 

Clare,  Feb.  12,  1824. 
1689     J.  Buchanan,  Rifle  Brigade,  June  4,  1824. 

1711  D.  Dowdall,  1st  Royal  Veteran  Battalion,  Feb. 

20,  1824. 

1712  John  M'Matty,  12th  Royal  Lancers,  Feb.  20, 1824. 
1723  W.  Hannah,  2d  or  Queen's  regt.,  May  15,  1824. 
1725    John  Aiken,  2d  Royal  Veteran  Battalion,  Derry, 

May  28,  1824. 
1729     H.  Holden,  5th  Dragoon  Guards,  June  16,  1824. 

1733  R.  Kerry,  4th  Dragoon  Guards,  July  28,  1824. 

1734  2d  Rifle  Brigade,  July  28,  1824. 

"  17th  December,  1829. 
"Moved  by  Rev.  C.  Boyton,  seconded  by  E.  Cottingham, 
"That  T.   B.   White's    suggestions  be  adopted  as  the 
resolution  of  this  committee : 

"  That  the  next  dormant  number  be  issued  to  the  66th 
regiment,  and  the  Quebec  brethren  be  directed  to  send  in  a 
correct  return,  in  order  that  new  warrants  be  issued." 

"  17th  November,  1831. 

[Appendix  76.] — "  Your  committee  have  received  from 
America  the  most  cheering  accounts,  and  the  lodges  now 
sitting  there  under  your  warrants  emulate  each  other  in 
evincing  their  gratitude  for  the  interest  taken  by  you  in 
their  welfare." 

Resolution  8.  That  such  warrants  are  sent  privately  and 
indirectly  to  such  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates, 
without  the  knowledge  or  sanction  of  the  commanding  offi- 
cers of  such  regiments  or  corps,  and  every  Lodge  held  in 
the  army  is  considered  as  a  District  Lodge. 

COPY    OF   A   LETTER   FROM  WILLIAM    SCOTT    TO  WILLIAM   SWAN, 

THE  DEPUTY  ASSISTANT  GRAND  SECRETARY  OF  THE 

GRAND    LODGE.       [Q.  2856.] 

"  Sir — We,  the  Master,  Deputy  Master,  and  Secretary 
of  1458  Orange  Lodge,  of  the  16th  Company  Royal  Sappers 
and  Miners,  having,  in  August,  1831,  taken  out  the  above 
warrant  from  the  county  of  Antrim  Grand  Lodge — we  are 
increasing  in  number,  and  wish  to  be  supplied  with  any 
information  which  the  Grand  Lodge  from  time  to  time 
sends  to  our  other  country  brethren.  The  regulations  not 
pointing  out  any  means  for  military  Lodges  holding  com- 
15"^ 


174 

munication,  we  have  therefore  come  to  the  resolution  of 
applying  by  letter  to  you  for  instruction,  which  will  be  most 
thankfully  received.  From  the  peculiar  nature  of  our  duty, 
we  do  not  remain  long  in  any  place ;  therefore,  your 
answering  this  as  soon  as  possible  will  confer  a  lasting 
obligation  on  your  most  obedient,  humble  servants  and 
brethren,  William  Scott,  Master. 

Daniel  Rock,  Deputy  Master. 

Edward  Dixon,  Secretary." 

"  15th  February,  1833. 
[Appendix.]     "William  Scott,  16th  Company  Royal  Sap- 
pers and  Miners. 

"  That  the  committee  would  most  willingly  forward  all 
documents  connected  with  the  Orange  system,  to  any  confi- 
dential person  in  Ballymena^  as  prudence  would  not  permit 
that  printed  documents  be  forwarded  direct  to  our  military 
brethren.  W.  J." 

[Q.  2856.]  In  reply  to  this  is  a  letter  from  Mr.  Scott, 
dated  18th  February,  stating,  "  I  have  to  acknowledge  the 
receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  15th  inst.,  and  take  this  oppor- 
tunity of  expressing  my  thanks  for  the  kind  and  gentlemanly 
manner  in  which  you  have  answered  last  month's  letter. 
I  request  you  will  be  kind  enough  to  convey  the  thanks  of 
the  brethren  of  No.  1458,  to  the  committee  of  the  Grand 
Lodge,  for  their  prompt  consideration  of  our  business,  as 
well  as  for  the  interest  they  have  shown  in  our  welfare. 
The  parcel,  containing  the  papers,  &c.,  can  be  directed  to 
Mr.  Andrew  Crosbie,  saddler,  who  is  a  faithful  brother,  and 
can  be  depended  on." 

Resolution  9.  That  the  General  Orders  of  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief of  the  Forces  (Parliamentary  Paper,  No 
395  of  1835)  addressed  in  the  yeais  1822  and  1829,  to 
Commanding  Officers  of  Regiments  and  of  Depots,  and  to 
General  Officers  and  to  other  officers  on  the  Staff,  at  home 
and  abroad,  strongly  reprobate  the  holding  of  Orange 
Lodges  in  any  regiment,  as  ^^  fraught  with  injury  to  the 
discipline  of  the  army;''''  and  '■'■that  on  military  grounds 
the  holding  of  Orange  Lodges  in  any  regiment  or  corps^  is 
contrary  to  order  and  to  the  rules  of  the  service;  "  and  "  that 
a  disregard  of  this  caution  will  subject  offending  parties  to 
trial  and  punishment  for  disobedience  of  orders." 


175 

No.  2. 
(Copy.)  (Confidential.) 

Circular  Letter  from  the  Adjutant  General,  dated  July  1, 
1822.  (Addressed  to  Officers  commanding  regiments  of 
Cavalry  and  Infantry,  at  home  and  abroad,  East  Indies 
excepted.) 

"Horse  Guards,  July  1,  1822. 
"  Sir — Reports  having  reached  the  Commander-in-Chief 
that  measures  are  taking  in  some  regiments  to  promote  the 
establishment  of  Orange  Lodges,  and  that  in  certain  in- 
stances Commanding  Officers  have  been  solicited  to  permit 
soldiers  to  receive  diplomas  for  holding  such  Lodges,  his 
Royal  Highness  desires  that  you  will  state,  for  his  Royal 
Highness'  information,  whether  any  attempt  of  this  descrip- 
tion has  been  made  in  the  regiment  under  your  command, 
as  his  'Royal  Highness  ca7inot  too  strongly  reprobate  a 
practice  so  fraught  with  injury  to  the  discipline  of  the 
Army.  I  have,  &c., 

(Signed)  H.  Torrens,  Adjutant  General." 

No.  3. 

(Confidential.) 
Circular  Letter  from  the  Adjutant  General,  dated  Nov.  14, 

1829.     (Addressed  to  Commanding  Officers  of  Regiments 

and  Depots,  and  to  General  and  other  Officers  on  the 

Staff,  at  home  and  abroad.) 

"Horse  Guards,  November  14,  1829. 

"  Sir — In  consequence  of  circumstances  which  have 
recently  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  General  Command- 
ing-in-Chief,  his  Lordship  has  directed  me  to  transmit  to 
you  a  duplicate  of  the  circular  issued  on  the  1st  of  July, 
1822,  by  his  late  Royal  Highness  the  Duke  of  York,  and 
to  call  your  attention  to  the  necessity  of  strict  conformity  to 
it,  and  of  the  exercise  of  the  utmost  vigilance  on  your  part 
to  prevent  the  i7itrodnctio7i,  or  the  existe7ic€,  in  the  regiment 
under  your  command,  of  the  practice  therein  adverted  to^ 
and  u'Mch  loas  so  pistly  reprobated  by  his  Royal  Highfiess 
as  fraught  loith  i7ijury  to  the  discipline  of  the  A7'my.' 

"  In  making  any  inquiry  with  a  view  to  ascertain 
whether  any  Orange  Lodges  have  been  made  in  the  regi- 
ment under  ^^our  command,  you  will  cause  it  to  be  clearly 
understood  by  the  men,  that  the  investigation  has  become 
necessary  on  military  grou7ids,  and  that  they  will  not  be 


176 

expo^ed  to  any  reflection  or  disgrace  on  account  of  being 
Orangemen,  but  that  their  meetings  being  contrary  to  order 
and  to  the  rules  of  the  service,  camwt  he  permitted^  under 
any  pretence.  Finally,  that  their  disregard  of  this  caution 
loill  subject  them  to  trial  and  punishment  for  disobedience 
of  orders.  I  have,  &c., 

(Signed)  H.  Taylor,  Adjutant  General." 

Resolution  10.  That  these  resolutions,  and  the  evidence 
taken  before  the  Select  Committee  on  Orange  Lodges,  be 
laid  before  his  Majesty. 

Resolution  11.  That  a  humble  address  be  presented  to 
his  Majesty,  praying  that  he  will  be  graciously  pleased  to 
direct  his  royal  attention  to  the  nature  and  extent  of  Orange 
Lodges  in  his  Majesty's  Army,  in  contravention  of  the  gen- 
eral orders  of  the  Commander-in-Chief  of  his  Majesty's 
Forces,  issued  in  the  years  .1822  and  1829,  which  strongly 
reprobate  and  forbid  the  holding  of  Orange  Lodges  in  any 
of  his  Majesty's  regiments ;  and  also  to  call  his  attention  to 
the  circumstance  of  his  Royal  Highness  Ernest,  Duke  of 
Cumberland,  a  Field  Marshal  in  his  Majesty's  army,  having 
signed  warrants,  in  his  capacity  of  Grand  Master  of  the 
Grand  Orange  Lodge  of  Ireland,  (some  of  them  dated  so 
recently  as  April  in  the  present  year,)  which  warrants  have 
been  issued  for  constituting  Orange  Lodges  in  the  army. 

An  address,  grounded  on  this  extraordinary  statement, 
was  accordingly  prepared  and  presented  to  the  crown,  to 
which  his  Majesty  in  substance  replied  that  he  agreed  with 
the  address  in  considering  such  combinations  dangerous 
and  illegal,  and  that  he  would  "  adopt  the  most  effectual 
means  to  prevent  the  introduction  of  secret  societies"  into 
the  army  ;  for  on  the  charge  of  seducing  the  soldiery  from 
their  duty,  the  investigation  had  been  established. 

These  efforts  seem  to  have  exhausted  the  entire  stock  of 
whig  liberality,  and  early  in  1838,  there  was  much  appa- 
rent probability  of  a  coalition  between  them  and  Sir  Robert 
Peel,  "the  child  and  champion  of  toryism."  A  ferocious 
attack  on  O'Connell  by  Lord  Brougham,  and  the  lukewarm 
manner  in  which  the  whigs  saw  their  own  Irish  measures 
mutilated  by  amendments,  convinced  the  "great  agitator" 
that  the  sum  of  ministerial  concession  was  filled  up,  and 
farther  they  would  not,  or  could  not  proceed.  In  the  career 
of  reform  they  had  forgotten  the  inspired  maxim — "he  that 


177 

hath  put  his  hand  to  the  plough,  let  him  not  look  back ; " 
for  when  the  furrow  was  laid  open,  when  the  good  grain 
was  half  so\ati,  their  evil  genius,  like  the  magician  men- 
tioned in  a  German  legend,  metamorphosed  them  into 
ravens,  and  they  devoured  it.  They  were  a  good-inten- 
tioned  class;  but  hell,  it  has  been  well  said,  is  paved  with 
good  intentions.  If  their  cowardice  had  injured  only  them- 
selves, it  were  small  loss  ;  but  it  had  a  most  destructive 
effect  upon  the  cause  of  reform  in  the  empire.  There  were 
then  but  two  classes  in  British  politics,  the  people  and  the 
tories.  The  former  were  fast  acquiring  energy  and  wisdom 
and  skill ;  they  were  learning  their  own  strength  and  their 
rights  and  prerogatives,  but  they  had  not  been  long  enough 
engaged  in  such  studies  to  rear  a  race  of  plebeian  states- 
men. They  were  necessitated,  therefore,  to  look  to  either 
of  the  political  aristocracies,  and  they  chose  the  whigs  for 
their  allies  and  agents.  Had  they  been  resolute  enough  to 
treat  the  people  as  confidants,  not  as  temporary  and  useful 
tools,  a  thorough  regeneration  of  the  constitution  might 
easily  have  been  effected.  But  the  whisfs  slicrhted  the 
people — the  people,  in  turn,  became  disgusted  with  the 
whigs  ;  and  the  fox  of  Tamworth  stepped  in  for  the  spoil, 
while  both  were  lying  inactively  and  suspiciously  apart. 

O'Connell,  with  his  usual  foresight,  beheld  the  approach- 
ing result,  and  he  resolved  to  save  Ireland,  at  least,  from 
the  apathy  so  fatal  to  popular  reforms  in  the  sister  island. 
On  the  accession  of  Lord  Melbourne's  administration,  it 
had  given  to  him  and  the  country  a  solemn  pledge  that 
justice  should  be  done  to  Ireland.  The  royal  speech  of 
the  same  year  echoed  this  sentiment,  and  condemned  all 
attempts  at  agitating  for  repeal.  The  accession  of  Victoria 
two  years  afterward,  did  not  change  the  cabinet;  and  one 
of  the  first  acts  of  her  Majesty  was  a  letter  to  Lord  Mul- 
grave,  expressing  a  wish  that  he  should  treat  her  Irish 
subjects  precisely  as  those  of  England.  These  fine  speeches 
had  not  been  openly  violated ;  on  the  contrary,  they  had 
been,  as  we  have  seen,  in  a  meagre  measure  fulfilled.  Mr. 
O'Connell  in  '35  had  said  to  the  new  ministry  in  answer 
to  their  pledges,  and  to  the  monarch  in  reply  to  his  speech, 
— "  I  will  give  you  five  years  to  act  upon  your  promises ; 
I  will  cease  for  five  years  to  agitate  for  repeal;  you  may, 
perhaps,  do  us  full  justice,  which  I  somewhat  doubt.  Yet, 
to  abolish  all  argument  in  favor  of  the  Union,  I  will  try  a 


178 

reformeJ  imperial  Parliament  for  a  fair  time  ;  if  it  fails, 
there  can  be  but  one  course  for  Ireland — to  demand  and 
procure  the  restoration  of  her  own  legislature." 

For  this  declaration,  he  was  blamed  by  the  most  ultra 
friends  of  Ireland,  as  well  as  by  the  tories.  "  He  has 
deserted  us!"  cried  the  one.  "A  compact,  a  bar^zain,  a 
Litchfield  House  purchase — he  has  sold  you!"  cried  the 
other.  But  the  "best  abused  man"  pursued  the  even  tenor 
of  his  way,  striking  down  the  outposts  as  before — abolish- 
ing, foot  by  foot,  the  outer  defences  of  Anglican  domination 
ere  he  returned  once  more  to  the  main  trial.  The  debate 
of  1834  had  convinced  him  the  time  w^as  not  yet  come 
when  repeal  could  be  peaceably  effected  ;  and  by  no  other 
means  would  he  undertake  to  accomplish  it.  The  tories 
were  too  strong,  the  whigs  too  weak,  and  the  radicals  too 
wild,  to  suffer  such  an  end  to  come  to  pass  in  Parliament ; 
and  not  only  policy,  but  necessity  stimulated  to  the  experi- 
ment. Some  have  contended,  that  had  he  continued  to 
agitate  repeal,  he  would  still  have  gained  all  that  he  did  in 
the  five  years'  truce — they  even  assert  that  such  a  course 
might  have  gained  him  more.  But  in  this,  they  are 
completely  mistaken.  The  case  stood  thus :  had  Mr. 
O'Connell  in  '35  gained,  from  the  imperial  Parliament,  all 
the  advantages  of  which  Ireland  was  desirous  to  avail  her- 
self, or  not?  It  is  very  evident  he  had  not;  then  the  next 
consideration  is,  if  repeal  were  kept  in  the  foreground, 
Avould  it  not  have  made  the  whigs  less  willing  to  concede, 
and  given  to  the  tories  the  favorite  and  not  powerless  cry 
of  "Revolution?"  Any  man,  who  bestows  an  hour's 
thought  on  the  constitution  of  the  imperial  Parliament  at 
that  time,  must  be  fully  aware  that  the  only  wise  course 
was  that  of  the  experiment,  or  truce. 

Although  the  monarch  and  the  ministry  forfeited  their 
promises  and  pledges,  O'Connell  resolved  to  fulfil  his  to 
the  letter.  He  found  peace  useful,  to  a  limited  extent;  but 
at  a  certain  point  it  became  inoperative,  and  he  had  once 
more  to  recur  to  his  favorite  weapon,  "  agitation."  As  a 
soldier  long  parted  from  his  sword — as  an  artist  forbidden 
the  implements  of  his  art,  so  O'Connell  returned  to  the 
rostrum,  rearing  aloft  the  banner  which  had  braved  a 
thousand  threatening  storms,  with  only  the  mystic  words — 
"Agitate!  Agitate!  Agitate!"  On  the  4th  of  August, 
1838,  he    returned  to  Dublin,  somewhat  worn  with   the 


179 

fatigues  of  a  most  laborious  session.  On  the  18th,  he  pro- 
cured a  meeting  of  his  friends  and  constituents  at  the  Corn 
Exchange,  wherein,  on  that  day,  was  organized  "  The  Pre- 
cursor Association,"  the  object  of  which  was  to  co-operate 
with  the  ministry  during  the  remaining  two  years  of  the 
truce,  in  doing  "full  and  equal  justice  to  Ireland."  If 
in  this  they  were  disappointed,  it  was  then  to  merge  into 
another,  to  be  called  the  "  National  Repeal  Association."  In 
its  origin,  the  "Precursor  Association"  was  scarcely  less 
promising  than  that  formed  fifteen  years  before,  in  the  same 
hall,  for  Catholic  emancipation.  Mr.  O'Connell's  compan- 
ions were  not  so  limited,  but  the  men  who  had  gained  fame 
by  his  side  were  no  longer  there ;  and  the  crowd  missed 
them  for  a  season.  Shiel  was  a  ministerialist — Steele  had 
retired  into  private  life — Mahon  had  apostatized — Doyle, 
Furlong,  and  Lawless,  were  gathered  to  their  fathers.  The 
great  old  man  was  not  only  deserted,  but  openly  attacked. 
Mr.  Sharman  Crawford,  an  influential  northern  member  of 
Parliament,  a  dissenter,  of  good  fortune,  strong  talents,  and 
high  parliamentary  reputation,  was  filling  column  after 
column  of  the  Irish  press  against  what  he  was  pleased  to 
term  his  evil  temporizing;  Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald  found  an 
opportunity  of  venting  his  long-accumulated  bile,  in  a  series 
of  bitter  letters,  fraught  with  spleen  and  sophistry;  while 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Davoren,  a  Catholic  clergyman  of  ability,  was 
on  the  same  side,  hammering  at  the  broad  foundations  of 
O'Connell's  public  character.  It  was  under  such  a  con- 
junction of  malignant  influences,  that  the  "Precursor  Asso- 
ciation" sprang  into  existence;  a  tour  through  the  island, 
during  the  three  last  months  of  the  year,  was  sufficient  to 
dispel  all  the  gloom,  and  to  combine  all  the  honest  men  of 
the  country,  "in  the  last  attempt  to  obtain  justice  from  a 
British  Senate." 

The  year  1839  opened  on  Ireland  once  more  aroused  to 
the  talismanic  truth — 

"  Hereditary  bondsmen,  know  ye  not 
Who  would  be  free,  themselves  must  strike  the  blow?" 

Twelve  months  of  agitation  passed  away,  leaving  little  good 
behind  it.  The  "  Reform  Registry  Association  "  was  sub- 
stituted, on  the  3d  of  September,  for  the  Precursor  Society. 
On  the  15th  of  April  following,  the  National  Association 
was  established,  but  early  in  July  it  assumed  the  additional 


180 

title  and  objects  of  "  The  Loyal  National  Repeal  Associa- 
tion," which  it  has  since  continued  to  hold.  An  infamously 
devised  bill  of  Lord  Stanley's,  for  reducing  the  paltry 
number  of  the  voters  of  Ireland,  hastened  this  final  step, 
from  which  Mr.  O'Connell  has  not  retrograded. 

The  policy  of  founding  so  many  associations  in  Dublin, 
has  been  repeatedly  ridiculed  by  Mr.  O'Connell's  libellers. 
But  they  know  little  of  politics  or  of  truth,  who  would  deny 
their  utility.  These  bodies  in  some  measure  served  as 
substitutes  for  a  local  Parliament,  and  in  some  cases  were 
fully  as  efficient  as  that  dependent  legislature,  which 
existed  from  the  violation  of  the  Treaty  of  Limerick  till  the 
convention  at  Dungannon.  It  is  true,  its  members  made 
no  laws  of  themselves,  but  they  found  out  the  grievances 
and  wants  of  the  country — they  typified  its  spirit,  and  pre- 
sented wise  and  well  digested  plans  to  the  imperial  legisla- 
ture, which  in  not  a  few  instances  they  had  strength 
sufficient  to  force  through  ;  they  were  indispensable 
monitors  of  the  Irish  members  of  Parliament,  who,  living  in 
a  foreign  metropolis,  where  the  actual  state  of  their  con- 
stituents, lost  by  distance  and  banished  by  the  comforts  of 
fashionable  society,  left  them  but  too  prone  to  degenerate 
from  their  hustings'  patriotism.  Moreover,  for  the  country 
itself,  more  especially  the  peasantry,  their  influence  was 
most  necessary.  While  the  same  class  in  England,  under 
lighter  provocations,  were  breaking  out  into  all  manner  of 
agrarian  outrage,  and  while  illegal  combinations  were 
strengthening  in  every. English  and  Scottish  city — while 
the  Chartists  flew  to  arms,  and  the  prisons  were  crowded 
with  captured  rebels,  the  humbler  classes  of  Ireland  were 
comparatively  quiet.  If  an  Orange  murder  excited  the 
Catholics  of  the  north,  or  a  tithe  slaughter  aroused  the 
peasantry  of  the  south,  a  brief  address  from  "  O'Connell's 
Association  "  in  Dublin  restored  all  to  quiet. 

It  is  not  for  me  to  enter  into  minute  details  of  the  actions 
of  any  of  the  associations  alluded  to — much  less,  of  that 
last  named,  which  is  still  in  such  successful  operation. 
Four  years  have  done  great  things  for  Irish  independence. 
The  spirit  of  the  people  and  the  number  of  their  champions 
have  increased  together,  until,  once  more,  an  assembly  is 
witnessed,  combining  the  majority  of  the  patriotic  and 
gifted  of  the  country,  toiling  night  and  day,  eagerly  and 
unitedly,  for  her  prosperity  and  honor.     The  remnant  of 


■«c>i 


the  gallant  band  of  emancipators  have  rallied  around  their 
veteran  chief — the  chivalrous  Steele,  the  magnificently- 
gifted  MacHale,  the  resolute  Barrett,  and  the  high-minded 
Lord  Ffrench.  Some  others  are  dead,  and  some  sleeping ; 
but  the  watchers  are  not  a  few,  and  they  are  ready.  The 
son  of  G rattan,  whose  name  is  prouder  in  its  simplicity  than 
barony  or  earldom  could  make  it ;  the  untiring  Stanton ; 
the  faithful  nationalist,  Valentine  Blake,  and  names  too 
many  for  rehearsal,  are  amongst  the  watchers  at  the  sepul- 
chre, from  which  the  crucified  spirit  of  Irish  Liberty  is  to 
arise,  glorious  and  immortal. 

Four  years  have  seen  as  many  attempts  to  quell  the 
national  spirit — and  they  have  failed.  Lord  Ebrington 
withdrew  all  patronage  from  repealers  ;  De  Gray  superseded 
magistrates  who  felt  for  their  country,  and  attempted  by 
military  means  to  extinguish  it  in  blood,  on  Clontarf ;  a 
court  of  justice  and  a  prison  have  been  tried — but  the  one 
could  not  persuade  the  people  that  their  leaders  were  guilty, 
nor  could  the  other  alienate  the  free  without  from  the  con- 
fined within.  Firm  in  the  calm  resolve  of  righting  their 
manifold  wrongs — sober  as  was  never  race  before — studious 
beyond  any  other  contemporaneous  people — religious  as 
the  most  pious  of  their  forefathers,  the  Irish  of  to-day  stand 
m  a  formidable  union,  from  which  they  can  neither  be 
wheedled  nor  terrified.  And  by  these  signs,  more  than 
from  any  external  cause,  do  wise  men  predict  their  politicdl 
emancipation ;  for,  if  Ireland  divide  not,  England  must 
yield  up  the  wrongfully  acquired  and  accursed  union. 

16 


1S2 


CHAPTER  TWELVE. 

Anecdotes  of  the  Personal  Career  of  Mr.  O'Connell — 
Various  opinions  of  his  Puhlic  Character — View  of  his 
Genius  and  its  Influence — Conclusion. 

We  have  rapidly  traversed  the  long  and  active  public 
life  of  a  great  statesman.  Let  us  once  again  cast  a  glance 
upon  his  personal  career,  since  passing  that  era  from  which 
we  last  regarded  it.  With  the  triumph  of  emancipation, 
his  professional  life  may  be  said  to  close  ;  for,  notwithstand- 
ing he  has  often  been  engaged,  since  then,  in  suits  of  law, 
at  least  eleven  months  of  each  year  is  given  to  politics. 
The  most  remarkable  of  his  personal  qualities  is,  perhaps, 
his  power  of  winning  and  keeping  friends.  For,  though 
many  have  broken  from  his  society,  the  first  disruption  has 
been  on  his  part,  and  from  striking  necessities.  To  Ireland, 
indeed,  he  would  sacrifice  his  dearest  personal  predilec- 
tions ;  but  however  harshly  he  has  dealt  by  those  who 
seemed  to  him  deserving  of  it,  he  has  shown,  by  many 
extraordinary  proofs,  that  he  is  far  from  the  selfish  egotism 
his  enemies  have  charged  him  with.  If  the  dead  could 
speak  to  vindicate  the  living,  the  voice  of  O'Loughlen,  from 
the  tomb,  would  silence  all  the  babbling  of  a  host  of  such 
slanderers.  When  he  himself  is  no  more,  a  thousand  facts 
will  be  his  monument  to  posterity  as  a  most  loving  and 
faithful  friend.  In  his  home — amidst  the  children  whom 
he  loves  and  watches  over,  of  whom  a  father  might  well  be 
proud,  the  genuine  affections  of  his  soul  are  seen  ;  and  no 
enemy  hath  ever  crossed  his  threshold  and  came  back  as 
he  entered.  Those  who  have  often  seen  him  thus,  all  asfree 
in  asserting  that  there  is  a  charm  of  manner  and  of  tone 
about  everything  he  says  and  does,  which  they  can  never 
afterwards  efface  from  their  memory.  The  mother  of  his 
children  is  now  no  more  ;  but  in  them,  she  hath  left  behind 
her  so  many  deputies  of  her  own  love,  that  the  matronless 
board  looks  cheerful,  and  the  hearth-side  gay  although  there 
is  no  mother  there.  A  score  of  rosy  grand-children  gladden 
the  thoughtful  evening  hours  of  the  hoary  patriot,  and  for 


183 

the  proud  name  he  has  made  them,  return  him  homage  and 
veneration.  If  there  be  on  earth  no  more  delightful  object 
than  a  Christian  father  seated  among  his  well-taught  off- 
spring, in  this  case  it  is  doubly  admirable,  where  the  busy, 
weary  life  of  the  patriot  might  be  an  excuse  for  the  omis- 
sions of  the  parent.  Politics  have  been  the  ruin  of  many  a 
noble  mind,  and  the  warper  of  many  a  soul.  Ambition, 
power  and  popularity  have  given  the  great  of  the  earth  to 
man's  eternal  enemy.  Incessant  care  has  blunted  the 
devotional  feelings,  while  an  arbitrating  destiny  has  often 
chased  away  their  faith  in  God,  the  Supreme  Arbiter. 
Lordly  minds  have  gloried  in  a  fancied  triumph  over  reve- 
lation, and  conquering  spirits  have  too  frequently  spurned 
the  strict  allegiance  to  be  ever  rendered  to  the  church. 
All  these  misfortunes,  by  God's  grace,  O'Connell  has 
avoided — of  which  his  household  hours  are  the  most  con- 
vincing proofs.  Before  such  deleterious  causes.  Napoleon 
was  crushed,  and  Jefferson  yielded;  the  Catholic  and  the 
Protestant  have  been  lost  together,  while  he  stands  up,  amid 
laymen  almost  alone,  in  his  deep  and  uniform  observance 
of  religious  duty.  His  very  love  of  country  was  a  tempta- 
tion, the  same  by  which  Richelieu  stumbled  and  Wolsey 
fell ;  but  over  this  also  has  he  triumphed. 

A  life  so  ordered  could  not  escape  the  admiration  of  good 
and  fervent  spirits  like  his  own.  To  its  influence  we  may 
trace  ihe  deep  personal  reverence  which  has  actuated  so 
many  communities  to  choose  him  as  their  representative  in 
the  national  councils.  We  find  him,  within  twelve  years, 
sitting  alternately  for  Dublin,  Drogheda,  Kilkenny,  Water- 
ford,  and  Clare — and  canvassed  for  by  the  best  men  of 
these  localities,  with  an  enthusiasm  which  could  not  be 
greater,  if  he  were  the  bosom  friend  of  each.  An  anecdote 
or  two  will  show  how  worthy  of  such  friends  he  is. 

In  1834,  when  Mr.  Barrett,  of  the  Dublin  Pilot,  was 
prosecuted  for  publishing  a  letter  of  Mr.  O'Connell's,  Mr. 
Shiel  was  engaged  to  defend  him.  But  the  day  before  the 
trial,  that  gentleman  suddenly  and  most  unexpectedly 
returned  the  brief  which  he  had  before  accepted ;  and  a 
few  hours  before  the  opening  of  court,  it  was  placed  in  Mr 
O'Connell's  hands.  So  deeply  interested  did  the  latter 
feel  for  his  friend,  that  he  immediately  accepted — and, 
although  without  previous  examination,  delivered  one  of 
the  most  effectivs  law  arguments  he  had  ever  uttered. 


184 

At  a  recent  election  in  Carlow,  some  of  the  voters  had 
been  decoyed  into  Mr.  Bruin's  castle  and  there  confined, 
lest  they  should  vote  against  that  gentleman's  election. 
Their  alarmed  wives  approached  the  carriage  of  the  Liber 
ator  as  he  entered  the  county-town,  amid  a  dense  mass  of 
spectators,  and  held  up  their  children  to  him,  in  mute  appeal. 
He  took  the  little  ones  fondly  in  his  arms,  caressed  them, 
and  exclaimed  with  deep  emotion — "  The  tyrants !  how 
could  they  deprive  such  innocent  beings  of  their  fathers?" 

His  readiness  of  repartee  is  one  of  the  most  singular 
of  his  gifts.  Addressing  a  meeting  in  Dublin,  favorable  to 
domestic  manufactures,  a  wag  in  the  crowd,  observing  that 
he  wore  a  foreign-looking  cravat,  inquired — "Is  that  hand- 
kerchief on  your  neck,  Irish  manufacture?" 

"Yes  !"  rejoined  the  speaker,  "  and  the  man  that  wears 
It,  too!" 

There  are  stories  innumerable  told  in  the  Four  Courts 
of  his  promptitude  in  reply,  and  humorous  eccentricities  ; 
and  even  the  coal-porters  and  fish-mongers  retail  the 
"  Counsellor's  Ion  moU "  with  the  greatest  fidelity.  His 
talent  at  nicknames  is  incredible — his  soubriquets  stick 
forever.  Spinning-Jenny  Peel,  Scorpion  Stanley,  Lord 
Mount-Goose,  and  other  equally  terse  descriptions  of  char- 
acter, have  been  long  established  as  popular  phrases. 

But  he  who  can  thus  stigmatize  an  individual,  can  bear 
m  his  turn  with  almost  any  amount  of  personal  abuse,  from 
individuals  as  well  as  from  assemblies.  His  conduct  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  on  two  very  trying  occasions,  amply 
illustrates  this  quality. 

At  a  public  meeting  in  1838,  he  had  charged  the  tory 
election  committees  with  gross  bribery,  for  which  he  was 
censured  by  the  Speaker  of  the  House,  on  motion  of  Lord 
Maidstone.  This  censure  he  received  with  a  dignified 
silence — arose  after  the  speaker  had  ceased,  defended  his 
own  conduct,  and  in  the  very  teeth  of  his  opponents,  repeated 
the  original  charge. 

On  a  later  occasion  he  was  reported  to  have  said  in  pub- 
lic, that  the  same  assembly  contained  five  hundred  scoun- 
drels, and  for  this  he  was  arraigned,  as  a  fresh  breach  of 
privilege.  When  he  arose  to  explain,  he  was  saluted  with 
the  most  clamorous  outcries.  The  voices  of  all  beasts  were 
imitated  to  perfection  by  his  right  honorable  antagonists  ;  he 
turned  to  the  chair  and  said  in  an  emphatic  and  calm  tone 


185 

of  voice,  "  Mr.  Speaker,  am  I  to  be  put  down  by  such 
beastly  bellowing?"  This  added  fuel  to  the  flame.  A 
score  of  gentlemen  leaped  simultaneously  to  the  floor,  and 
began  to  gesticulate  vehemently ;  at  length  it  was  decided 
that,  if  he  withdrew  the  word  "  beastly,"  the  matter  should 
be  dropped ;  but  he  very  promptly  rebuked  this  nice  distinc- 
tion by  inquiring, — "  What  sounds  were  they  ? — surely  not 
human  sounds — and  how  can  there  be  any  other  sort  of 
bellowing  but  beastly  bellowing?"  It  was  upon  this  occa- 
sion that  Sir  David  Roche,  of  Limerick,  stepped  forward, 
amid  the  excitement,  and  boldly  declared  that  if  any  gentle- 
man would  say  that  he  considered  himself  individually  in- 
sulted by  Mr.  O'Connell,  he.  Sir  David,  was  prepared  to  give 
him  satisfaction.  Indeed,  since  O'Connell  had  pledged  him- 
self to  peace,  his  friends  have  more  than  once,  been  obliged, 
at  the  risk  of  life,  to  protect  his  honor  and  person.  About  the 
time  of  the  Maidstone  vote  of  censure,  his  son,  Morgan,  fought 
with  Lord  Alvanley,  because  that  nobleman  considered  a 
phrase  dropped  in  the  House  of  Commons  by  Mr.  O'Connell 
applied  to  himself  personally.  Mr.  Steele  and  other  gen- 
tlemen have  carried  their  attachment  equally  as  far, 
although  in  every  instance  without  the  remotest  knowledge 
on  the  part  of  their  illustrious  friend.  Mr.  O'Connell  him- 
self has  been  more  than  once  tempted  to  the  field  since  his 
vow  became  known,  but  he  has  faithfully  observed  it,  in 
spite  of  every  provocation. 

The  usual  treatment  of  living  greatness  is  slander,  doubt, 
and  caricature  on  the  one  hand,  and  flattery  on  the  other. 
If  our  great  subject's  eminence  is  to  be  measured  by  the 
amount  of  either  which  he  has  received,  no  other  public 
man  could  rival  him.  There  are,  however,  many  excep- 
tions to  this  general  truth ;  men  of  foreign  birth  and  fellow- 
subjects  hav^e  made  many  and  sincere  attempts  to  hold  up 
his  public  life  as  it  has  been  acted.  All  agree  in  assigning 
him  great  firmness  of  character,  fertility  of  expedient  in 
delicate  circumstances,  deep  penetration  and  a  sanguine 
temperament  which  no  obstacles  can  change.  His  worst 
enemies  have  allowed  him  the  singular  merit  of  consistency, 
and,  although  the  tory  writers  of  England  endeavored  to 
make  him  guilty  of  corruption  in  the  Litchfield  House 
"  compact,"  the  charge  has  never  been  repeated  by  a  credi- 
ble authority  since  the  re-commencement  of  the  Repeal 
Agitation.  The  reason  seems  to  be,  that  while  O'Connell 
16=^ 


1S6 

was  a  partisan  of  the  wliigs,  their  antagonist  strove  by- 
even'  means  to  ruin  him  in  the  estimation  of  his  country, 
but  when  he  returned  to  labor  for  her  alone,  and  thus  in- 
sured the  fall  of  his  former  proteges,  they  ceased  to  calum- 
niate him.  Common  sense  is  sutScient  to  persuade  us  of 
one  thing;  if  !!Mr.  O'Connell  -were  not  an  honest  man,  he 
could  not  be  to-day,  as  powerful  as  he  was  thirty  years  ago. 
No  democratic  champion  has,  I  believe,  ever  retained  so 
uninterrupted  a  popularitj'.  No  mere  orator,  certainly,  has 
held  his  place  in  the  affections  of  any  people.  Cicero  had 
his  day  of  idolatry  and  of  exile.  Demosthenes  was  within 
ten  years  the  most  powerful,  and  the  most  abject  of  Athe- 
nians. But  the  one  gave  way  to  an  overweening  vanity,  and 
the  bribes  of  Harpalus  justified  the  ingratitude  of  Athens 
towards  the  other.  Burke  was  once,  perhaps,  in  a  fair  way 
to  become  formidable  as  a  public  man,  at  that  time  when 
his  foresight  was  vindicated  by  the  anarchy  of  France  and 
the  insurrection  of  America  ;  but  he  had  more  of  speech 
than  action  in  his  soul,  and  though  his  gifts  of  language 
were  beyond  those  of  created  beings,  they  could  not  cover 
up  the  absence  of  that  greatest  requisite  of  greatness — prac- 
ticability. These  men  were  all  more  eloquent  than  O'Con- 
nell,  in  the  general  interpretation  of  the  word,  but  they  fall 
immeasurably  below  him  in  the  results  they  have  produced. 
Had  Cicero  used  his  triumph  mildly  over  the  Catiline  con- 
spirators, and  withstood  the  seducing  flatteries  of  Caesar,  the 
Roman  Republic  might  have  seen  other  ages  of  glory  and 
conquest  and  letters;  had  Demosthenes  thought  less  of  him- 
self and  more  of  his  country,  Athens  had  not  fallen  with 
him  in  the  estimation  of  the  neighboring  states ;  had  Burke 
formed  a  political  school  on  his  own  plan,  (which  he  might  * 
easily  have  done.)  the  latter  history  of  Europe  would  not 
be  so  blasted  with  civil  wars,  and  desperate  attempts  at 
revolution.  But  the  orators  seem  to  have  forgotten  that 
speech  is  only  valuable  as  it  induces  or  excites  action. 

The  generosity  of  O'Connell's  public  character  has 
always  been  admitted  by  his  respectable  enemies.  There 
is  hardly  any  sort  of  personal  offence  which  he  has  not  for- 
given for  the  sake  of  union  in  a  good  cause,  or  for  Ireland. 
The  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  a  pious  and  well-meaning  man, 
of  long  descent  and  vast  property,  a  Catholic  for  whom 
O'Connell  had  opened  the  House  of  Lords,  the  Premier 
Earl  of  England,  and  deservedly  one  of  the  British  laymen 


187 

most  honored  by  the  successor  of  Saint  Peter,  this  Earl, 
published,  a  couple  of  years  since,  a  philippic  against  the 
revival  of  agitation  in  Ireland,  and  reflecting  pointedly  on 
the  public  character  of  O'Connell.  Ingratitude,  it  is  said, 
would  incense  an  eremite  :  the  Liberator  wrote  a  rejoinder 
famous  for  its  terrible  pungency  and  its  unanswerable  logic. 
"  Stand  forth  Saxon  and  stranger,"  he  said,  and  meet  your 
benefactor,  whom  you  have  thus  wantonly  outraged.  The 
Premier  Earl  must  have  felt  the  lash  in  his  soul,  and  it 
went  deeper  and  deeper  when  he  recalled  his  own  unpro- 
voked attack ;  but  a  few  months  ago,  before  the  eyes  of 
assen\bled  thousands  this  mistaken  man  forgave,  and  was 
forgiven.  Another  delightful  instance  of  the  same  class,  it 
may  be  well  to  record.  Sir  Abraham  Bradley  King  was 
one  of  those  Orange  Corporators  of  Dublin,  who,  before  the 
passage  of  the  Irish  Municipal  Reform  Bill,  rioted  in  civic 
indolence,  drank  to  "the  glorious  and  immortal  memory" 
of  the  violator  of  the  treaty  of  Limerick,  and  hiccoughed, 
"  To  h — 11  with  the  Pope,"  over  his  turtle  soup,  provided  at 
the  expense  of  the  Catholic  metropolis  of  a  Catholic  nation. 
Sir  Abraham  became  poor,  and  put  in  his  claims  for  a  pen- 
sion of  £5,000  per  year ;  the  man  who  obtained  it  for  him 
was  Daniel  O'Connell, — that  man,  who  narrowly  escaped 
death  from  the  pistols  of  the  corporation  bravo,  and  who 
was  libelled  at  every  sitting  of  that  body,  and  vilified  by 
every  individual  who  belonged  to  it.  Many  other  proofs  of 
the  same  loftiness  of  soul  might  be  rehearsed,  but  these  two 
are  worth  a  million. 

One  of  the  most  ordinary  charges  against  Mr.  O'Con- 
nell's  public  character  is,  that  like  the  Turk,  he 

"Cannot  bear  a  brother  near  his  throne." 

But  of  this,  there  is,  in  his  history,  as  far  as  I  am  acquainted 
with  it,  no  proof  whatever.  Had  he  been  so  unqualifiedly 
ambitious,  he  had  never  wrought  so  long  in  embryo,  be- 
hind the  banners  of  Lords  Fingal  and  Killeen.  In  ISOS,  on 
the  revival  of  Catholic  Emancipation,  he  was  in  his  thirty- 
third  year,  a  prominent  member  of  the  first  profession  in  the 
land,  of  genius  generally  recognized,  and  sincerity  unques- 
tioned,— and  yet  we  find  him  for  many  years  after,  content 
with  the  name  and  rank  of  a  subordinate,  while  in  fact  he 
was  the  head  and  heart  of  the  board.  It  was  not  until 
1823,  that  he  may  be  said  to  have  assumed  that  political 


188 

supremacy  to  which  he  might  well  have  aspired  a  dozen 
years  before.  This  certainly  does  not  look  like  inordinate 
ambition,  in  his  youth.  Had  he  made  the  effort,  he  might 
have  been  as  prominent  in  Ireland  in  his  twenty-fifth  year, 
as  Bonaparte  was  in  France,  or  Pitt  in  England,  at  the 
same  age — ^but  principle  forbade  him.  He  saw  around  and 
before  him,  men  who  had  grown  gray  in  advocating,  how- 
ever feebly  or  fitfully,  the  emancipation  of  conscience ;  he 
saw  Grattan  in  the  senate,  and  Killeen  and  Kenmare  in 
the  associations,  and  he  resolved  to  let  them  play  out  the 
monarch's  part  upon  the  stage ;  he  respected  their  venera- 
ble years,  and  was  ambitious  only  in  practising  that  most 
difficult  of  virtues  for  a  politician,  self-denial.  Since  the 
Emancipation  Bill,  how  often  has  he  told  the  men  who 
cavilled  with  his  egotism,  that  he  would  ever  be  as  willing 
to  follow  as  to  lead  ?  Have  they  tried  him,  ere  they  con- 
demned ?  No,  to  their  confusion,  be  it  told.  The  only 
evidence  which  his  most  bitter  opponent  can  bring  to  bear 
.on  this  assertion  is  entirely  presumptive.  The  fact  is,  that 
Mr.  O'Connell  could  very  well  afford  to  allow  any  other 
man  the  eclat  of  leadership,  for  he  would  ever  be  the  leader 
in  point  of  fact.  Like  the  great  Earl  of  Warwick,  although 
unwilling  to  be  king  himself,  he  could  be  more — a  king- 
maker. There  never  was  a  public  man  more  free  from 
jealousy.  He  has  given  merit  to  every  consistent  friend  of 
his  country  or  cause,  and  for  the  memory  of  past  services 
he  has  often  overlooked  present  derelictions.  Mr.  Shiel 
and  Lord  Plunket,  are  cases  in  point.  Both  are  men  of 
transcendent  oratorical  ability ;  both  devoted  the  flower  of 
their  youth  to  the  cause  of  Ireland,  and  nobly  held  the 
breach  against  the  most  formidable  of  invasions",  and  both, 
unfortunately,  in  a  certain  degree,  have  destroyed  the  reputa- 
tion for  which  they  dared  so  much.  Yet,  when  Mr.  O'Con- 
nell mentions  either  name — though  Plunkett  prosecuted  him 
to  prison,  and  Shiel  begged  for  mercy,  where  he  should  have 
demanded  justice — he  has  always  preferred  to  dwell  upon 
their  better  deeds,  avoiding  their  desertions.  In  a  word, 
he  seems  as  superior  to  jealousy  as  he  is  above  rivalry. 
There  have  been  times  when  he  has  prostrated  an  ambi- 
tious politician  by  an  unmerciful  exertion  of  his  power,  but 
these  instances  are  very  few,  and  the  cases  extreme.  There 
is  nothing  farther  from  his  nature  than  deliberate  malignity, 
or  long-cherished  personal  feelings.     He  has  been  forced  to 


189 

become  the  single  leader  of  Ireland,  and  in  a  country  whose 
hereditary  curse  was  disunion,  it  was  better  far  to  have  a 
dictator,  than  a  triumvirate.  The  one  may  err,  and  has 
erred,  but  the  other  would  have  perpetuated  for  ages,  the 
slavery  of  the  soil.  But  almost  all  his  designs  have  been 
practicable.  If  he  made  enemies  he  converted  them  by  his 
generosity  into  friends.  He  followed  others  until  obedience 
became  folly,  and  he  has  smce  led  without  fear  or  dogma- 
tism, although  in  every  new  stage  victorious. 

The  genius  of  O'Connell  has  been  much  descanted  on  by 
writers,  but  with  indifferent  success.  A  celebrated  French 
writer  considers  it,  in  Parliament,  "  as  a  huge  plant  under 
a  glass  case,"  and  in  this  opinion  the  majority  of  his  critics 
are  agreed.  I  am  inclined  very  much  to  doubt  the  accu- 
racy of  this  decision.  When  we  consider  him  as  born  in 
Ireland  and  educated  in  France,  we  cannot  but  wonder  that 
he  has  had  so  many  triumphs  in  the  English  Parliament. 
When  we  consider,  also,  that  he  is  a  sincere  and  enthusias- 
tic Roman  Catholic,  and  a  determined  stickler  for  Irish 
nationality,  and  that  five  sixths  of  those  around  him  are 
Protestants  of  different  shades  of  dissent  from  Rome,  and 
four  fifths  of  them  avowed  enemies  of  Ireland,  or  at  least 
careless  or  prejudiced  on  Irish  matters,  this  decision  will  at 
once  disappear.  Taking  everything  into  consideration  no 
other  man  has  been  able  to  accomplish  so  much,  in  the 
teeth  of  such  various  and  important  difficulties.  Night 
after  night,  and  session  after  session,  has  he  stood  in  St. 
Stephens,  the  target  of  six  hundred  marksmen ;  but  having 
his  quarrel  just,  he  was  armed  in  triple  mail,  and  had  a 
heart  beneath  it,  which  never  blanched,  never  despaired. 
Men  who  have  faced  death  in  its  worst  forms,  who  have 
looked  unterrified  on  the  carnage  of  the  Peninsula,  or,  that 
wild  unearthly  conflict  when  the  elements  combat  around, 
below,  and  above — the  mariner — would  have  fled  in  dismay 
from  such  a  position.  But  the  courage  of  O'Connell  failed 
not ;  his  active  voice  and  wonderful  mind  were  not  hushed 
before  the  clamor  of  the  mighty  majority,  nor  diverted  by 
the  insolence  of  the  cowardly  allies  of  the  strong  cause.  He 
has  faced  all  that  prejudice  could  array  against  him ;  and 
what  can  it  not?  Every  attempt  to  stifle  his  voice  has  been 
defeated,  and  whenever  he  has  retreated,  in  haughty  silence, 
for  a  time,  but  to  return  and  pay  back  scorn  for  scorn,  the 


190 

plaudits  of  his  worst  enemies  have  not  unfrequently  accom- 
panied him. 

If  we  follow  him  from  the. senate  house  to  the  rostrum, 
we  find  the  sanie  wonderful  faculty  of  adaption  strikingly 
visible.  His  genius  seems  then  in  its  natural  channel,  so 
smoothly  and  so  irresistibly  does  it  pour  along.  He  speaks 
more  than  any  one  else,  and  he  is  better  relished.  Who- 
ever may  be  present,  O'Connell  is  the  lion.  Whether  it  be, 
that  royal  blood  presides,  and  the  aristocracy  form  the  audi- 
ence, as  at  the  anti-slavery  gatherings  at  Exeter  Hall ;  or  that 
an  humble  priest  presides,  and  the  peasantry  are  his  hear- 
ers, as  in  some  of  his  Irish  meetings,  he  pursues  the  self- 
same train  of  argument,  in  a  style  but  little  altered.  There 
is  a  sameness,  indeed,  in  nearly  all  his  orations,  but  from 
an  indefinable  charm,  they  never  tire  either  hearer  or 
reader.  There  are  not  many  attempts  at  rhetoric  in  his 
speeches,  although  at  times  he  has  produced  as  fine  pas- 
sages of  this  class  as  any  other  speakers  of  our  age.  His 
sarcasm  is  one  of  his  most  powerful  gifts ;  it  is  a  miracle  of 
bitterness  when  he  exerts  it  to  the  full,  and  wo  betide  the 
wight  whose  portrait  he  is  to  draw  while  in  that  mood. 
He  little  thinks  of  refining  it,  but,  as  Wilson  well  remarks 
of  Burke's  imagery,  "  It  is  like  a  tropical  shower  which 
washes  down  virgin  gold  and  worthless  sand  together."  It 
is  as  unhewn  as  Swift's,  though  far  less  concise,  and  as 
subtle  as  Sheridan's  without  the  classical  nicety  of  that 
great  joker.  It  is  a  weapon  which,  like  the  dagger  of  the 
knight  errant,  he  uses  upon  all  occasions,  in  opening  an 
amorous  epistle  at  the  bar,  roasting  an  adversary  in  the 
commons,  or  in  despatching  him  on  the  rostrum.  Few 
there  are  of  note  in  Britain  who  have  not  felt  it,  and  none 
who  have  been  able  to  forget  it. 

The  influences  of  O'Connell's  genius  and  life  will  be  of 
great  benefit  to  mankind.  He  is  the  founder  and  father  of 
a  new  political  philosophy,  which  promises  great  results  in 
futurity.  The  system  of  moral  agitation  is  the  work  of  his 
hands,  and  his  immortal  motto  will  be,  ere  many  years,  as 
universal  as  the  science  it  embodies — 

"He  who  commits  a  crime  gives  strength  to  the  enemy.*' 

There  is  another  aphorism  of  his,  not  unworthy  to  be 
placed  beside  the  last;  viz.,  "Nothing  can  be  politically 
right,  which  is  morally  wrong."     On  these  two  precepts 


191 

depend  the  whole  secret  of  his  success,  and  the  glory  of  hi» 
history.  The  principle  is  at  present  for  the  first  time  recog- 
nized as  a  political  truth,  that  the  better  way  for  men  to 
recover  lost  rights,  is  by  degrees ;  such  piecemeal  revolu- 
tion, whilst  it  prevents  the  intoxication  of  sudden  success, 
teaches  the  mind  to  expand,  as  its  privileges  increase ;  thus 
suiting  the  slave  to  bear  the  novelty  of  freedom  by  a  gradual 
acquaintance  with  its  blessings.  And  to  this  end,  neither 
war,  munitions,  nor  bloodshed,  are  required ;  in  peace  such 
revolutions  commence,  and  in  peace  they  terminate.  The 
nature  of  a  struggle  thus  drawn  out,  taxes,  to  the  utmost 
stretch  which  nature  can  support,  the  energies,  fortitude  and 
religious  firmness  of  a  people.  As  they  endure,  so  is  their 
reward,  until  at  last,  having  no  other  trials  to  pass  thjough, 
they  are  admitted  in  peace  to  the  fulness  of  their  desires, 
and  the  consummation  of  their  ambition. 

There  now  are,  and  ever  will  be  in  the  world,  advocates 
of  war  and  bloodshed.  Men,  who,  constitutionally  sanguine, 
or  insensible  to  Christian  truth,  will  teach  that  by  blood 
alone  is  right  to  be  acquired,  and  liberty  obtained ;  who 
take  their  philosophy  from  Korner,  and  their  politics  from 
Paganism  ;  nay,  the  world  has  seen  "  divines  "  (so  called) 
who  have  contended  with  martial  ferocity  for  the  literal 
truth  of  our  blessed  Saviour's  declaration,  that  he  came  not 
to  send  peace  but  the  sword ;  and  if  they  considered  them- 
selves as  sent,  they  certainly  endeavored  to  live  up  to  their 
interpretation,  in  thus  becoming  firebrands  and  scourges  to 
society.  The  Mahomedan's  motto — "The  Koran,  the 
tribute,  or  the  sword  " — finds  advocates  even  at  this  day 
amongst  the  meek  disciples  of  a  crucified  Kedeemer.  It  is 
hard  to  stifle  the  bigot's  thirst  for  slaughter,  whether  he  be 
a  political  zealot  or  a  sectarian  partizan,  yet  a  day  will 
arrive  when  mankind  will  learn  to  estimate  their  own  hap- 
piness and  honor  better  than  in  giving  way  to  brutal  appe- 
tites for  physical  conflict.  The  man  who  has  done  most  for 
the  peace  principle,  is  beyond  doubt,  in  our  time  at  least, 
Mr.  O'Connell.  The  best  of  causes  may  deserve  to  be  put 
down,  if  their  friends  should  attempt  by  force  to  establish 
them ;  and  how  often  in  this  world  is  the  oppressor  strong- 
handed,  while  the  neck  of  the  slave  is  weak  and  bowed 
from  habit?  Ireland's  modern  history  is  the  most  striking 
proof  of  the  insufficiency  and  danger  of  using  physical 
means  to  redress  political  or  social  wrongs.     Within  seven 


192 

centuries,  that  unhappy  country  has  been  led  into  twenty 
attempts  "at  revolution,  and  each  time  she  failed.  She  had 
leaders  and  allies — numbers,  courage,  and  wrongs  ;  and  yet 
she  failed.  At  an  early  period  of  the  English  connection, 
Robert  Bruce,  king  of  Scotland,  sent  over  his  brother 
Edward,  and  followed  himself  with  a  large  army,  to  assist 
the  northern  princes  in  regaining  their  independence ;  but 
this  effort  failed.  Spain  sent  her  veterans  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  with  ships  of  war,  and  stalwart  cavaliers,  and  gold 
of  Peru,  to  co-operate  in  the  rising  of  the  south  and  west 
against  Queen  Elizabeth ;  and  this  also  failed.  France,  in 
the  last  century,  made  three  different  attempts  of  a  similar 
nature,  and  each  of  them  failed.  The  poor  aborigines,  who 
clung  to  the  soil  as  naturally  as  grass,  were  thus  left  to 
suffer  'the  penalty  for  both  parties ;  confiscation  performed 
its  deadly  work ;  a  mercenary  soldiery  were  let  loose  upon 
society ;  industry  was  murdered  in  the  cities,  and  plenty 
banished  from  the  rural  districts ;  the  fiery  spirit  of  the 
people  went  down  for  a  season,  until  another  generation, 
unterrified  by  the  example  of  the  past,  should  spring  up  to 
act  the  same  part,  and  share  in  the  same  punishment. 
Indeed,  there  ever  seems  to  be  a  fatality  attending  forcible 
revolutions,  so  much  so  that  for  one  that  has  succeeded,  one 
hundred  have  failed.  The  Christian  religion,  properly 
enforced  and  understood,  is  the  only  power  capable  of 
implanting  in  a  people  the  better  way  of  redress.  We 
hear  men  declaim  warmly  against  a  brace  of  worthless 
fellows,  who  go  forth  to  pistol  each  other  ;  yet  we  do  not 
hear  half  so  much  said  in  denunciation  of  the  wholesale 
slaughter,  where  contending  thousands  meet  to  destroy  one 
another  in  an  imaginary  quarrel.  A  more  rigid  morality 
in  the  mass  of  mankind — a  larger  spiritual  authority  in  the 
pulpit,  is  the  only  hope  of  the  friends  of  universal  peace. 
Whoever  would  spread  this  principle  must  be  an  O'Connell 
in  faith,  in  practice,  in  sincerity — a  man  who  will  reverence 
the  altar,  instead  of  trying  to  abolish  it ;  who  will  respect 
ecclesiastics,  not  seek  to  bring  their  high  ofiice  into  disre- 
pute ;  who  will  observe  the  Lord's  day,  and  the  days  set 
apart  to  commemorate  the  virtues  of  His  saints — not  a 
scoffer,  a  Deist,  or  a  contemner  of  holy  ordinances.  With- 
out a  temper  and  a  soul  like  this,  it  will  be  in  vain  to 
imitate  one,  who,  by  such  inward  strength,  has  braved 


193 

countless  perils,  ar.d  called  down  the  blessing  of  Provi- 
dence upon  his  designs. 

But  not  for  Ireland  alone  has  this  life  been  led,  nor  to 
her  alone  has  the  lesson  been  taught.  For  thirty  years,  in 
the  greatest  of  modern  empires,  and  the  most  extensively 
read  of  modern  languages,  he  has  done  great  deeds,  the 
records  of  which  shall  not  pass  away.  For  the  last  twenty 
years  of  that  time,  the  eyes  of  all  Civilization  have  been 
upon  him.  There'  is  no  land  so  remote  where  his  name 
does  not  penetrate— no  court  so  far  removed  from  Britain, 
where  his  influence  does  not  enter  into  the  calculations  of 
statesmen.  Few  peaceably  inclined  politicians  have  ob- 
tained so  singularly  extensive  a  reputation,  and  no  other 
perhaps  has  possessed  so  deep  a  controlling  influence 
beneath  it.  Englishmen  have  railed  at  him,  yet  while  they 
railed  they  felt  the  majesty  of  his  prestige  weighing  on 
their  hearts.  Foreigners,  passing  from  England  to  Ireland, 
having  their  optics  pre-arranged  in  London,  have  observed 
many  derogatory  traits  in  his  character, — while  those  who 
visited  Ireland  first,  and  viewed  things  and  men  with  un- 
clouded eye,  have  not  failed  to  proclaim  him  as  the  greatest 
man  in  the  empire.  But  though  often  exasperating,  by  the 
vehemence  of  his  temporary  anger,  the  sensitive  national 
feelings  and  prejudices  of  foreign  countries,  his  name  has 
not  been  discarded  from  any  ;  the  wnse  and  better  minds 
of  every  nation  have  made  allowance  for  a  man,  whose  too 
rigid  honesty  is  his  only  error  as  a  politician.  When  they 
recall  his  sayings  of  England  and  its  Parliament — the  bold- 
ness of  his  denunciations  of  both  the  great  parties  of  that 
kingdom,  uttered  at  their  own  doors,  they  always  acquit 
him  of  dishonest  motives,  however  they  may  question  his 
prudence,  or  deny  his  assertions. 

There  is  hardly  a  crowned  head  in  Europe,  with  whom 
he  has  not  been  personally  at  war.  Although  but  a  sub- 
ject, he  has  reached  with  his  strong  voice  the  tenants  of 
thrones,  and  maddened  the  wearers  of  crowns  by  the  keen- 
ness of  his  attacks.  Cloth  of  gold  and  marble  walls  have 
been  unable  to  keep  out  his  hostility,  and  more  than  one 
monarch  has  trembled  beneath  the  infliction  of  his  lash. 
He  has  been  well  styled  "  one  of  the  great  powers  of 
Europe;"  and  assuredly  he  has  given  his  brother  sove- 
reigns many  unfriendly  proofs  of  real  power.  Untitled, 
unpensioned  and  unpatronized  by  his  own  or  any  other 
17 


194 

gfovernment — simply  as  Daniel  O'Connell — he  exerts  more 
influence  on  European  affairs  than  any  single  man,  premier 
or  prince,  of  the  present  age.  With  Catholic  countries  he 
secured  this  influence  in  '29 ;  with  Protestant  kingdoms  he 
secured  it  by  his  advocacy  of  the  rights  of  dissenters ;  and 
wherever  the  leaven  of  democracy  has  entered,  his  anti- 
church-and-state  principles,  and  his  universal-suffrage 
doctrines  have  secured  to  him  a  permanent  host  of  admiring 
friends.  Long  may  he  continue  to  exert  his  power — to 
curb  the  ambitious  schemes  of  speculating  princes — to  teach 
republics  justice  and  kingdoms  a  just  appreciation  of  human 
rights !  Long  may  he  live  to  be  the  father  and  saviour  of 
Ireland — the  best  benefactor  of  the  black  slave,  and  the 
ablest  advocate  of  his  white  brother,  in  all  quarters  of  the 
globe ! 

My  labor  of  love  is  nearly  done ;  and,  with  all  its  imper- 
fections on  its  head,  I  commit  it  to  the  eyes  of  the  world. 
The  canvass  was  small — the  group  a  large  one,  whose 
members  were  all  models  in  their  respective  departments. 
The  main  figure  would  require  the  best  pen  of  the  age,  to 
do  him  justice  ;  and  the  most  gifted  author  might  not  refuse 
to  take  any  one — the  humblest — of  his  followers,  as  a  sub- 
ject. Their  features  will  be  engraven  on  the  immortality 
of  history ;  and  as  the  tide  of  time  bears  posterity  farther 
downward  from  the  nineteenth  century,  the  veneration  of 
ages  will  but  increase,  and  the  brightness  of  their  fame  be 
multiplied  more  and  more.  Others  whom  I  have  over- 
looked, for  the  sake  of  brevity,  will  be  added;  and  the 
names  of  O'Connell  and  his  friends  will  shine  a  constella- 
tion through  the  night  of  slavery,  and  in  the  noon-day  of 
liberation ; — and  as  future  chroniclers  relate  their  actions  to 
other  generations,  they  will  add,  to  the  young  and  ardent 
of  the  earth — "  Go  ye  and  do  likewise." 

The  time  has  not  arrived,  and  I  trust  for  years  will 
not  arrive,  when  it  shall  become  necessary  to  add  a  final 
•chapter  to  the  history  of  O'Connell's  life.  At  the  good  old 
age  of  threescore  and  ten  years,  he  now  stands  before  the 
world.  The  temperance  of  his  habits,  joined  to  a  constitu- 
tion originally  lusty  and  sound,  has  sustained  the  repeate.d 
shock  of  midnight  debate  and  constant  travel.  Within  a 
year  the  Avorld  has  resounded  with  the  magnitude  of  his 
triumph  over  an  unscrupulous  combination  of  perjured 
jurors  and  partizan  judges ;  and  as  he  slowly  and  erectly 


195 

progresses  toward  the  grave,  his  good  deeds  shine  more 
vividly  around  him.  A  hundred  years  from  now,  his  name 
and  fame  will  he  even  better  known,  and  his  actions  more 
favorably  interpreted.  Ireland  will  recall  his  memory,  as 
the  Greeks  of  old  deified  their  departed  great ;  and  while 
his  few  faults  will  be  forgotten  and  blotted  out,  his  suffer- 
ings, his  genius,  and  his  courage  will  only  be  remembered. 
It  will  then  be  recalled  with  wonder,  how  for  half  a  century 
he  battled  asfainst  the  wealtbiest  of  nations  and  the  most 
wily  of  governments  ;  how  they  assailed  him  with  gold, 
and  he  yielded  not — laid  coronets  and  ermine  at  his  feet, 
and  he  trod  over  them  ;  how  in  an  era  of  darkness  truly 
desolate,  he  emerged  from  the  grave  of  his  country's  mur- 
dered independence,  and  smote  down,  with  his  single  arm, 
all  the  legions  of  the  land  of  the  destroyer ;  how  before  his 
voice  chains  were  burst,  and  dungeon  walls  impregnable 
were  sundered,  and  alters  were  rebuilt,  and  monopolies 
broken  like  reeds  ;  and  how  he  taught  the  people  to  secure 
all  the  fruits  of  revolution  without  risking  any  of  its 
calamities  and  horrors. 

When  these  truths  are  unfolded  to  an  unprejudiced 
world,  in  what  position  will  Ireland  be  ?  Will  she  be  free 
or  enslaved — elevated  to  the  pinnacle  of  prosperity,  or  sunk 
to  the  lowest  depth  of  pauperism  ?  This  is  a  consideration 
which  we  will  enter  into  presently.  It  will  here  suffice  to 
say,  that  when  all  O'Connell's  triumphs  are  rehearsed,  and 
his  moral  victories  recounted  by  posterity,  may  the  list 
contain — (and  we  doubt  not  for  a  moment  but  it  will) — as 
one  of  the  most  glorious  of  his  achievements, 

THE    REPEAL    OF    THE    UNION. 


196 


A  GLANCE  AT  THE  FUTURE  DESTINY  OF 

IRELAND, 

The  destiny  of  a  people  is  in  a  great  measure,  indeed 
nearly  altogether,  the  work  of  their  own  creation.  To 
penetrate  the  mysterious  ways  of  Providence,  by  unveiling 
the  hidden  face  of  futurity,  has  been  given  to  few  even  of 
the  most  favored  of  men,  and  for  no  trivial  purposes.  Bat 
hope  and  observation  are  in  some  degree  prophets ;  and  it 
is  because  I  have  firm  hope  in  Ireland's  ascension,  and  have 
observed  for  years  past  her  growing  mind,  that  I  have 
ventured  to  throw  out  the  following  reflections  as  a  fitting 
sequel  to  the  sketches  just  concluded. 

There  is  no  enslaved  people  who  within  the  present  cen- 
tury have  given  such  cause  for  hope  to  their  sympathizers, 
as  the  Irish.  When  we  contemplate  the  self-denial  they 
have  observed  since  arriving  at  a  knowledge  of  their 
wrongs,  we  cannot  but  allow  them  the  possession  either  of 
a  more  phlegmatic  disposition  than  they  have  hitherto  been 
suspected  of,  or  a  deep  and  all-pervading  religious  senti- 
ment. Within  fifteen  years  the  mental  eye  of  Ireland  has 
been  opened  ;  education  has  been  progressing  ;  her  history 
has  been  unsealed.  The  first  lesson  she  learned  was 
indeed  of  surpassing  bitterness.  Her  first  triumph  brought 
her  to  the  knowledge  of  herself,  of  the  high  estate  from 
which  she  had  fallen,  and  of  the  almost  universally  received 
calumnies  on  her  character  and  name  which  England  had 
propagated  as  wide  as  ships  could  sail,  or  travellers  pene- 
trate. There  was  no  people  in  Europe  less  known,  previous 
to  the  days  of  the  Irish  Volunteers.  From  '82  to  1800, 
Ireland  nobly  vindicated  her  fame  as  a  mother  of  ge*tiius 
and  an  ardent  seeker  after  liberty.  But  the  union  demol- 
ished the  fair  rising  structure,  and  again  England  ruled 
and  libelled  unopposed.  In  1830,  Ireland  was  again  on 
her  feet ;  looking  around,  she  beheld  all  the  horizon  cov- 
ered with  the  mists  of  prejudice  and  calumny.  From  one 
quarter  alone,  there  came  a  ray  of  cheering  light — from  the 
land  in  whose  service  Sarsfield  and  Wolf  Tone  had  died. 
Fourteen  years  are  gone,  and  Ireland  has  learned  some- 


197 

thing  of  her  own  history,  and  something  also  of  the  mournful 
truth  that  mankind  are  always  more  prone  to  give  credit  to 
the  charge  of  the  powerful,  than  the  defence  of  the  subju- 
gated.    A  wise  resolution  was  taken  ;  the  people  resolved 
to  undo  practically  before  the  eyes  of  the  whole  world,  the 
filthy  web  of  misrepresentation  with  which  England  had 
surrounded  them.     Every  educational  society  and  improve- 
ment was    adopted,    and   a    new    one   was   formed  which 
redounds   to   her  great   credit — I   mean,    "  The  Christian 
Brothers."     Mr.  Rice,  a  man  of  the  most  exalted  purity 
of  soul,  the  most  generous   enthusiasm,  and  the   highest 
order  of  practical  ability,  was  the  founder  of  this  admirable 
system. "   He  realized  in  his  own  life  many  of  those  great 
qualities   which    distinguished   Ignatius   Loyola,   with   the 
shrinking  modesty  of  a  pure,  devoted  soul.     His  institution 
has  conferred  on  Ireland  innumerable  advantages  thus  far, 
and  many  more  and  greater  may  fairly  be  anticipated  from 
its  rapid  increase.     Gerald  Griffin,  the  inspired  author  of 
Gijsippius — the  poet,  novelist  and  philosopher — the  scholar 
of  nature,  and  child  of  all  the  muses,  was  so  deeply  im- 
pressed with  the  utility  of  this  excellent  association,  that, 
divesting  himself  of  the  world,  he  descended  (or  rather  rose) 
from  the  instruction  of  kingdoms,  to  be  a  teacher  of  the 
poorest  of  the  children  of  Ireland.     The  Ursuline  commu- 
nity, devoted  to  the  education  of  female*  children,  are  at 
present  very  numerous  in  Ireland,  and  the  minds   of  the 
future    mothers    of  the    people    are    being   expanded    and 
improved  to  a  degree  which  many  generations  before  them 
have  not  been  able  to  compass.     The  "national  education" 
system,  with  all  its  faults,  is  also  producing  its  effects;  and, 
acting  on  the  system  of  the  ingenious  Mr.  Lancaster,  is 
sowing  the  seeds  of  an  abundant  harvest.     To  these  we 
cannot  omit  to  add  the  lately-established  method  of  "adult" 
self-culture,  by  the  founding  of  reading-rooms  and  night- 
schools.     The  Dublin  newspaper  press  deserve  everlasting 
credit   for   their  unceasing   efforts   to   propagate   this  most 
useful  and  admirable  system.     Taking  all  things  into  con- 
sideration, we  can  very  well  agree  with  a  late  intelligent 
tourist,  in  the  belief  that  the  rising  generation  of  Irish  men 
and  women  will  be  as  well,  or  better  educated,  than  any 
other  portion  of  the  European  populace."^ 

*  Dr.  James  Johnson 
17=^ 


198 

There  cannot  be  a  truer  maxim  than  Homer's : — 

"Jove  makes  it  certain,  that  whatever  day 
Makes  man  a  slave,  takes  half  his  worth  away." 

The  Irish  people,  pressed  down  for  so  many  ages — ren- 
dered reckless  by  an  invariable  infliction  of  want,  incurred 
to  a  frightful  extent,  the  odious  habit  of  drunkenness.  In 
this  they  are  generally  conceded  the  "bad  eminence"  of 
superiority ;  but  there  are  unanswerable  proofs  that  the 
Scottish  people  exceeded  them  in  intemperance.^  But  of 
one  fact  there  can  be  no  question — that  there  are  few 
among  the  population,  on  whom  this  terrible  habit  had  not 
fastened.  The  Directory  of  the  United  Irishmen,  in  1797, 
proposed  to  the  people  a  pledge  against  all  intoxicating 
liquors,  which  was  not  generally  adopted.  Mr.  O'Connell, 
at  Waterford,  in  '26,  and  in  the  first  Clare  election,  had 
pledged  the  peasantry  to  total  abstinence  until  the  contests 
should  be  decided  ;  but  the  effects  of  these  vows  ^vere 
limited  by  their  duration.  It  is  more  than  twenty  years 
since  the  Rev.  George  Carr  of  New  Ross  introduced  the 
system  of  Temperance  Societies  into  Ireland,  which  lan- 
guished through  a  fluctuating  existence  until  the  year  1838, 
when  Theobald  Mathew  appeared  as  the  moral  regenerator 
of  the  people.  Within  five  years,  as  many  millions  of  the 
Irish  people  have  taken  a  solemn  vow,  before  God  and  their 
fellow-men,  to  abstain  from  all  intoxicating  drinks;  this 
they  have  most  rigidly  adhered  to,  and  faithfully  endeav- 
ored to  propagate.  The  contagion  of  their  example  has 
spread  into  Scotland  and  England,  and  accompanied  the 
Irish  emigrant  to  the  Pacific,  and  America ;  and  the  w^orld 
is  now  indebted  for  the  brightest  example  of  mioral  heroism 
which  modern  times  produces,  to  the  longest  oppressed  and 
worst  ruled  portion  of  its  people.  The  career  of  Father 
Mathew  is  a  miracle  of  success  ;  quietly  and  humbly,  with- 
out pomp,  or  bribe,  or  flattery,  he  has  induced  the  people  to 
cast  off"  their  prevalent  and  perilous  habit.  Sobriety  has 
paved  the  way  for  study  ;  the  national  love  of  music  has 
been  revived  ;  the  staple  produce  of  the  metropolis  is  poetry; 
the  old  airs  are  caught  upon  the  mountains,  as  they  were 

*  Among  other  documents  tendmg  to  place  the  Irish  people  in 
their  proper  relation  to  other  nations  guilty  of  drunkenness,  is  the 
Parliamentaiy  Report  of  the  Excise  Commissioners  of  1835,  in 
which  their  secondary  proficiency  is  clearly  established. 


199 

departing  forever ;  and  an  emulative  improvement  actuates 
all  the  classes  of  society.  Meanwhile,  the  good  apostle, 
like  another  Patrick,  traverses  the  island  round  and  round, 
imitating  that  illustrious  saint  in  the  industry  and  self- 
sacrifice  with  which  he  pursues  his  mission,  strengthening 
social  bonds  and  virtuous  societies,  shedding  peace  and 
comfort  into  many  a  long-desolated  home.  His  ways  are 
not  those  of  self-opinionated  reformers,  nor  his  wisdom  as 
their  wisdom.  Yet  in  those  distant  ages  when  half  a  dozen 
names,  at  most,  w^ill  be  well  remembered,  out  of  the  multi- 
tude of  men  dignified  at  this  day  by  the  cheap  prefix  of 
"  great,"  that  of  Mathew  wnll  hold  a  first  place.  Political 
systems  will  perish ;  monuments  of  civilization  will  disap- 
pear;  nations,  leaving  scarce  a  name,  shall  have  expired — 
but  his  memory  shall  endure.  The  "abomination  of  deso- 
lation "  shall  fill  cities  and  empires  ;  false  creeds  shall  have 
lived  and  died  ;  false  prophets  and  their  rhapsodies  will 
have  vanished — but  the  name  of  this  illustrious  friar  will 
not  pass  away.  Their  greatness  is  made  wnth  hands,  or 
wdth  the  voice — while  his  is  erected  out  of  the  inexhaustible 
energies  of  his  own  soul,  and  the  edifice  partakes  of  the 
immortality  of  the  instrument  of  its  erection.  Their  work 
is  a  work  of  pride,  stimulated  by  passion — his,  rising  from 
humilit}^,  touches  the  heavens ;  and  sustained  by  the  most 
unbounded  benevolence,  makes  all  the  earth  its  resting- 
place.  In  them  we  see  the  workings  of  man,  the  mere 
animal — but  in  him,  the  exhibition  of  one,  all  soul,  and 
love,  and  disinterestedness. 

There  is  no  other  phrase  which  so  well  expresses  the 
character  of  Irish  political  history,  as  the  single  word,  ex- 
traordhiary.  Singular,  indeed,  have  been  the  fortunes  of 
the  Hibernian  Celts,  and  their  descendants.  Ireland  was 
old  when  Christianity  exiled  the  Druids  from  their  sacri- 
ficial forests  ;  her  commerce  was  known  at  Pome,  but  not 
her  captives ;  Tyre  and  Sidon  had  bartered  v;ith  her,  before 
Romulus  and  his  brother  had  forsaken  Alba.  Her  military 
fame,  at  an  early  time,  was  equally  celebrated  ;  her  soldiers 
trampled  down  the  Roman  fortifications,  and  were  about 
to  scale  the  Alps,  when  an  arrow  of  lightning,  launched 
from  the  thunder-cloud  above,  struck  down  Dathy,  their 
daring  general — yet  a  handful  of  need}"  Normans  overran 
her  sea-coast,  and,  profiting  by  the  jealousies  of  rival  chiefs, 
seized  on  the  pleasant  plains  of  Leinster.     Seven_hundred 


200 

years  of  slavery  have  scarcely  cured  them  of  that  besetting 
sin.  Early  in  her  Christian  ages,  when  Europe  was  buried 
in  barbarism,  letters  and  science  found  a  shelter  amidst  her 
glens,  where  lil^e  a  conservatory,  those  precious  plants  were 
screened  from  the  inclemency  of  that  Gothic  winter  which 
had  set  in  on  all  the  cities  and  states  of  the  continent. 
When  literature  "  revived  "  abroad,  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  penal  laws  and  Protestantism  had  com- 
menced the  work  of  devastation  in  Ireland;  then,  what  the 
Vandals  had  done  for  Rome,  and  the  Saracens  for  Spain, 
Henry  and  Elizabeth  performed  for  Ireland.  With  the 
accession  of  the  Guelphs  this  was  completed  ;  and  ignorance 
and  the  Reformation  were  established  by  law  together. 
This  eccentric  destiny  clung  to  the  land  even  later;  in  the 
history  of  the  Stuart  war  in  Ireland,  it  is  strangely  exem- 
plified. The  revolution  of  1688  gave  new  security  to 
the  liberties  of  the  empire,  but  refastened  the  fetters  of 
Ireland.  Her  soldiers  went  abroad  to  win  glory  in  a  foreign 
service ;  her  scholars  were  proscribed  and  incarcerated ; 
and  while  the  reia^n  of  Anne  is  the  brightest  era  in  Eng-lish 
literary  history,  it  becomes  the  darkest  in  that  of  Ireland. 
In  1798,  the  Presbyterians  and  Catholics  first  combined  to 
save  the  constitution,  and  enlarge  its  pale  so  as  to  take  in 
all  creeds  ;  but  again  a  blight  came  o'er  their  councils — 
and  from  willing  comrades  in  danger,  they  were  artfully 
turned  into  enemies,  underrating  and  suspecting  each  other. 
But,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  the  singularity  of  this 
destiny  has  preserved  through  every  change  the  great  char- 
acteristics of  the  Milesian  blood,  which,  although  in  some 
respects  chilled  or  changed  by  slavery,  is  yet  gushing  from 
the  heart.  Their  hatred  of  control  has  preserved  the  love 
of  learning,  because  learning  was  denied;  and  persecution 
has  established  Catholicism  more  firmly  in  the  hearts  of 
the  people,  than  it  would  probably  have  been  fixed,  in  an 
uninterrupted  course  of  national  prosperity.  Every  people 
west  of  the  Alps  have,  at  some  time  or  other,  yielded  up 
their  old  faith  and  its  imposing  forms — but  Ireland  has  only 
clung  to  them  more  fondly  in  the  lapse  of  centuries.  The 
sons  of  her  rightful  princes  entered  the  sanctuary,  and  the 
expounders  of  Christian  doctrine  became  also  the  hope  of 
the  bondsman.  For  nearly  two  centuries,  the  Catholic 
clergy  were  the  only  educated  portion  of  the  aboriginal 
population ;    and  from  this  cause  they  were  obliged  to  be 


201 

the  advocates  and  defenders  of  the  people — the  councillors 
and  conveyancers,  as  well  as  the  teachers,  of  the  masses. 
The  clergy  became  the  conservers  of  antiquity*,  the  nar- 
rators of  history,  and  the  preservers  of  a  national  spirit. 
In  the  gloomy  glen,  or  in  the  cavern's  darkness,  haranguing 
their  faithful  flocks,  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  avoid 
mentioning  the  laws  which  had  driven  them  thither,  and 
the  transition  thence  was  natural,  to  the  men  who  made 
them.  The  upstart  antiquity  of  the  Saxon  race — their 
treachery,  injustice,  and  inferiority  to  those  whom  they 
oppressed,  were  kept  constantly  before  the  down-trodden 
masses ;  and  thus  was  perpetuated  that  sturdy  sense  of 
ancestral  dignity,  which  is  always  the  companion  of  your 
true  Irishman.  Young  patriots  loved  and  cherished  this 
useful  vanity,  feeding  it  with  declamation,  and  celebrating 
it  in  fiery  strains  of  never-dying  song.  At  length,  pro- 
scription wearied  of  its  ineffectual  labors,  the  penal  laws 
were  abolished,  and  the  heart  of  Ireland  swelled  out  to  its 
original  greatness.  It  has  since  voluntarily  cast  out  much 
of  the  folly  of  a  false  pride,  and  in  its  place  now  wisely 
cultivates  a  knowledge  of  the  defects  of  native  character, 
with  a  view  to  their  remedy. 

It  would  be  rash  to  assert,  dogmatically,  that  the  Irish  of 
future  times  will  be  a  great  people  ;  but  we  may  say  with 
certainty,  that  few  countries  ever  had  a  fairer  field,  to  win 
for  themselves  solid  and  legitimate  greatness.  In  politics, 
they  have  produced  the  most  remarkable  statesman  of  the 
day  ;  in  morals,  they  possess  the  most  wonderfully  apostolic 
man  ;  and  in  education,  they  are  fast  tracking  up  the  steps 
of  the  best  taught  communities.  It  is  true  that  in  Austria 
and  Prussia  there  are  wider  and  deeper  systems  of  study  ; 
but  these  are  entirely  governmental,  and  have  not  origi- 
nated with  the  people.  The  peculiar  genius  of  a  nation 
ought  to  be  represented  in  its  system  of  culture  ;  for  if  the 
system  harmonizes  not  with  that  genius,  it  becomes  a  clog 
around  its  neck,  rather  than  a  beacon  to  light  it  onward. 
The  Irish  system,  now  rapidly  tending  to  an  established 
existence,  will  be  of  the  people — all  the  better,  insomuch 
that  instead  of  being  compulsory,  it  is  formed  by  the  same 
hands  which  are  to  use  it.  In  this  view  its  practicability 
is  vastly  superior  to  the  schemes  of  the  continental  cab- 
inets. 

But  there  is  a  higher  cause  for  hope,  than  all  the  work- 


202 

ings  of  the  national  spirit  convey,  although  these  certainly 
are  far  from  dubious  or  equivocal.  It  is  the  hope  we  all 
have  (or  should  have)  in  the  merciful  guardianship  of  a 
just  and  retributive  Providence — Him,  of  whom  it  is  writ- 
ten that  a  sparrow  fails  not  to  the  earth,  unknown  to  His 
all-pervading  intelligence.  To  Him,  on  behalf  of  the 
oppressed,  the  freeman  should  always  look — for  the  eman- 
cipation unsanctioned  in  heaven  is  valueless.  We  have 
many  causes  to  look  there  on  behalf  of  Ireland.  The  birth- 
land  of  five  hundred  canonized  saints,  and  many  thousands 
of  beatified  martyrs,  cannot  surely,  in  His  justice,  be  left 
longer  as  the  footstool  of  a  hereditary  despotism.  The 
land  from  which  the  patrons  of  Scotland  and  Northumber- 
land, of  Germany  and  Gaul,  swarmed  forth,  as  St.  Bernard 
says,  "in  an  inundation"  of  pious  zeal,  is  not  to  continue 
forever  a  nursery  of  paupers,  partizans,  and  mercenary 
soldiers.  The  vessel  in  which  such  goodly  forms  were 
moulded  of  old,  has  not  been  doomed — Oh !  never  can  be 
doomed — to  the  shaping  of  hideous  shapes,  of  slaves  who 
go  forth  to  make  slaves,  and  maniacs  who  execute  the  laws 
of  those  who  manacle  them.  Nations  shall  confess  the 
justice  of  God,  and  kings  tremble  before  his  judgments. 
"Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,"  but  his  word  never! 
We  see  the  evidences  of  this  propitious  Providence  in 
the  men  now  employed  to  raise  up  the  people  of  Ireland, 
as  well  as  in  the  improved  temper  of  the  people  themselves. 
Their  ancestors  of  old,  revelling  in  plenty,  and  indulging  in 
unattacked  freedom,  grafted  on  their  hereditary  Milesian 
impetuosity,  a  wilder  and  more  hazardous  daring.  To 
this  they  joined  an  unsuspicious  disposition,  pampered  by 
an  overweening  sense  of  their  political  security  and  mili- 
tary invincibility,  which  in  reality  "  sold  the  pass "  upon 
them,  and  gave  their  patrimony  to  the  invader.  But  their 
sons,  so  long  as  they  retained  lands  and  gold,  scorned  to 
degenerate  from  the  olden  rule ;  it  was  only  confiscation 
which  could  teach  prudence,  and  beggary  which  introduced 
frugality.  Two  generations  lay  paralyzed  in  each  of  those 
extensive  changes,  which,  under  Elizabeth,  James,  Crom- 
w^ell,  and  William,  gave  a  new  race  of  proprietors  to  the 
soil.  Had  the  present  and  wisest  attempt  at  national  eleva- 
tion been  the  work  of  impulse,  or  the  promptings  of  a 
temporary  resolution,  we  might  well  distrust  it;  for  the 
swiftest  steed  is  often  the  first  to  give  out,  and  the  wave 


203 

which  throws  itself  highest  on  the  beach,  returns  most 
quickly  to  the  bowels  of  the  ocean.  Such,  however,  is  not 
the  nature  of  the  present  Irish  agitation,  that,  like  a  natural 
.crop  in  a  wholesome  soil,  has  appeared  faintly  at  first,  but, 
overcoming  the  inclemency  of  many  obstacles,  flowers,  and 
at  last  brings  forth  the  long-expected  fruit  for  general 
nourishment  and  preservation.  The  Providence  which  has 
given  Ireland  an  O'Connell  in  political,  and  a  Mathew  in 
moral  reformation,  has  also  given  her  the  heart  to  receive, 
and  the  understanding  to  follow  the  teachings  of  these  great 
men.  Without  this  innate  virtue,  and  a  strong  native 
sense  of  duty,  all  preachings  of  peace  and  charity  and  for- 
giveness would  be  thrown  away,  and  Father  Mathew's 
reputation  would  still  be  limited  to  the  congregation  of 
Blackamoors  Lane,  and  O'Connell  would  have  been  little 
more  than  "  a  stout  special  pleader."  That  consciousness 
of  deserving  better  times,  and  hilarity  of  temper  which  dis- 
tinguishes the  people — their  fervent  Catholic  enthusiasm, 
and  lofty  appreciation  of  the  value  of  letters,  are  materials 
out  of  which  sincere  and  industrious  advocates  can  easily 
effect  many  salutary  improvements.  No  country  that  en- 
dured slavery  so  long,  has  emerged  from  it  less  deteriorated 
by  the  contact.  The  sons  of  the  Italian  republics  are  wan- 
derers on  the  earth,  pedlars  of  bad  music  and  retailers  of 
comfits ;  the  posterity  of  Greece  lie  most  complacently 
beneath  the  heel  of  the  Moslem,  although  their  fathers 
were  freemen  before  the  Hegira,  while  yet  Arabia  slum- 
bered in  a  state  of  tinselled  barbarism. 

The  situation  of  Ireland,  and  her  natural  advantages, 
should  Ions:  since  have  made  her  eminent  amonsfst  nations. 
An  island  compact  and  well  watered,  with  as  many  harbors 
as  there  are  leagues  in  her  circumference ;  placed  to  the 
west  of  all  Europe — the  last  Atlantic  landmark  of  the  old 
world,  and  the  first  European  beacon  for  the  new — she  has 
been  regarded  by  commerce  as  a  mere  Eddystone,  useful 
when  a  wide  berth  is  given  her.  Yet,  what  a  mistake  is 
here.  Her  northern  coast — that  wonderful  museum  of 
geology — instead  of  attracting  attention  only  by  its  curiosi- 
ties, should  have  invaded  the  ocean  with  moving  monuments 
of  art,  more  wonderful  than  the  eternal  pillars  planted  by 
giant  hands,  in  defiance  of  the  angry  North  Sea.  Her 
southern  shore  tempts  the  approach  of  Mediterranean  com- 
merce, while  her  vast  western  havens  ought  to  be  covered 


204 

with  the  fleets  of  the  new  world.  Through  the  means  of 
Ireland,  a  revolution  will  some  day  be  effected  in  British 
commerce ;  and  if  the  merchants  of  Liverpool  and  Bristol 
will  not  take  time  by  the  forelock,  they  may  behold  a  time 
when  the  warehouses  of  Galway  shall  be  large  enough  to 
oblige  few  ships  to  brave  the  dangers  of  Channel  navigation. 
Dr.  Kane,  in  his  recent  admirable  work,  has  demon- 
strated, with  the  most  beautiful  accuracy,  the  immense  fund 
of  mineral  wealth  which  lies  unemployed  beneath  the  feet 
of  the  idle  and  half-starving  peasantry.  This  laborious 
author  has  developed  the  extent  of  vast  coal-fields,  hitherto 
but  little  known,  the  wealth  of  which  will  be  inexhaustible 
when  Newcastle  and  Whitehaven  are  no  longer  productive. 
He  has  divided  these  fields  into  provincial  classes,  of  which 
one  is  in  Leinster,  two  in  Munster,  three  in  Ulster,  and  one 
in  Connaught.  The  first  occupies  the  greater  portion  of 
the  county  of  Kilkenny,  the  Queen's  County,  and  part  of 
Carlow,  and  is  bounded  by  the  rivers  Barrow  and  Nore. 
"  This  district,"  says  the  Doctor,  "  forms  a  great  mineral 
basin ;  its  strata  consequently  incline  from  the  edge  toward 
the  centre — the  undermost  appear  on  the  outer  edge,  and 
the  uppermost  in  the  interior  of  the  district."  ^  ^  =^ 
"  Mr.  Griffith  estimates  the  area  occupied  by  this  coal  at 
5000  acres,  (Irish,)  and  its  specific  gravity  is  1.591 ;  the 
total  quantity  of  pure  solid  coal  may  be  calculated  at  rather 
more  than  sixty-three  millions  of  tons."  The  Tipperary 
coal-field  is  about  twenty  miles  in  length  by  six  in  breadth; 
yet  the  quantity  of  coal  at  present  raised  from  it  does  not 
exceed  fifty  thousand  tons  per  annum.  The  great  Munster 
"  formation "  is  the  most  extensive  coal-bed  in  the  British 
islands.  It  occupies  much  of  the  counties  of  Clare,  Kerry, 
Limerick,  and  Cork.  Mr.  Griffith  has  discovered  in  it  six 
different  layers  ;  "  three  of  the  most  valuable,  locally  known 
as  the  bulk-vein,  the  rack-vein,  and  the  sweet-vein,  have 
been  recognized  at  the  opposite  sides  of  the  undulations." 
Yet  this  vast  source  of  wealth  is  almost  untouched.  The 
coal  formations  of  Ulster,  in  Tyrone  and  Antrim,  are  not 
very  extensive ;  in  the  former,  however,  there  are  between 
seven  and  eight  thousand  acres,  comprising  the  Coal  Island 
and  Anahone  districts.  The  hills  around  Lough  Allen 
encompass  the  Connaught  coal  fields,  which  extend  through 
Roscommon,  Sligo,  Leitrim,  and  a  portion  of  Cavan,  or 


205 

about  sixteen  miles  in  each  direction.     This  also  has  been 
to  the  present  but  little  worked. 

Such  is  the  fuel  power  lying  inactive  in  Ireland.  Of 
her  immense  water  power,  it  has  been  acknowledged  that 
it  could  turn  all  the  machinery  of  Britain  and  France. 
There  is  no  other  European  country  so  well  watered ;  an 
innumerable  variety  of  streams  dash  down  her  declivities, 
and  float  onward  to  the  ocean,  like  the  unemployed  hours 
of  a  sluggard,  never  to  return.  O,  Nature  !  how  thy  boons 
are  squandered  upon  slaves !  What  profits  it  to  Irishmen 
that  they  live  in  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey,  when 
their  hands  are  chained,  and  their  limbs  fettered  ?  Of  what 
avail  are  all  the  benefactions  of  a  good  Providence,  when 
tyrant  laws  have  reversed  the  order  of  nature,  and  reared 
up  beggary  in  the  very  nursery  of  abundance  ?  But  the 
day  of  the  destroyer  is  fading  into  twilight,  and  the  sun  of 
a  new  age  is  smiling  serenely  on  "  the  plains  and  rivers  of 
the  land." 

I  have  cast  this  hasty  glance  upon  the  moral,  intellectual 
and  physical  capabilities  of  Ireland,  for  building  up  a  name 
and  nationality,  because  it  is  always  an  agreeable  task  to 
show  that  men  are  capable  of  better  things  than  most  phi- 
losophers suspect  them  of;  but  it  is  peculiarly  so  to  believe 
that  the  slave  is  to  have  his  turn  of  fortune,  honor,  enlight- 
enment, and  independence.  It  is  delightful  to  contemplate 
the  possibility  of  Ireland's  ascension — to  think  that,  when 
England's  star  shall  pale,  and  her  "  felon  flag"  be  furled 
forever,  her  long- oppressed  sister-isle  shall  assume  a  glorious 
destiny,  and  practise  toward  her  prostrate  oppressor,  "the 
noble  vengeance  of  forgiveness." 

Ireland  has  a  deep,  abiding  faith;  vast  natural  wealth  ;• 
increasing  intelligence ;  a  firm  sobriety,  and  a  good  share 
of  political  education.  If  she  be  but  true  to  herself,  no 
country  ever  shaped  out  a  nobler  futurity  than  she  can.  As 
the  people  are  to  themselves,  so  shall  their  posterity  be  to 
the  world.  The  inheritance  of  liberty  and  eminence  is 
before  them,  and  over  its  portal,  like  the  door  of  the  enchanted 
chamber,  it  is  written — "  Be  bold  !  be  bold  I  but  be  not  too 
bold  ! " 

18 


CONTENTS 


Introduction, 

CHAPTER    ONE. 

The  Family  of  Mr.  O'Connell. — His  Birth  and  Education,  collegiate 
and  legal,      . 7 

CHAPTEE    TWO. 

The  Act  of  Union. — O'Connell's  Opposition  to  that  Measure. — Robert 
Emmett — Review  of  the  Catholic  Question  in  Ireland. — Rt.  Rev. 
Dr.  Milner — Commencement  of  the  Veto  Controversy. — Suppression 
of  the  Catholic  Committee, 14 

CHAPTER     THREE. 

The  Catholic  Question  continued. — The  Veto  Controversy  in  Eng- 
land.— Richard  Lalor  Shiel. — Rome  and  the  Veto. — Father  Hayes. 
— His  Career  and  Character. — His  Death,      ....      23 

CHAPTER    FOUR. 

Mr.  O'Connell's  Personal  Career. — Duel  with  D'Esterre. — Challenge 
from  Sir  Robert  Peel. — Kerry  Election. — Endeavor  to  establish  a 
National  Party  irrespective  of  Creed. — George  the  Fourth  visits  Ire- 
land.— Formation  of  the  Catholic  Association,        .  32 

CHAPTER    FIVE. 

Sketches  of  eminent  Writers  on  the  Catholic  Question. — Right  Rev. 
Dr.  Doyle. — Thomas  Furlong. — "  Honest  Jack  Lawless." — Thomas 
Moore 38 

CHAPTER    SIX. 

The  Catholic  Question  in  foreign  Countries.— America. — Thomas  Addis 
Emmet. — France. — Germany. — British  Dependencies. — Growth  of 
the  Association. — English  Protestant  Liberality. — Rev.  Sidney 
Smith, 65 

CHAPTER    SEVEN. 

General  Election,  of  1826. — The  Association  resolves  to  contest 
Waterford,  Louth,  and  Monaghan. — The  Result. — Triumphs  of 
the  Catholics  in  England. — Publications. — The  Press. — Death 
of  Edward  Hay,  Esq. — WiUam  Cobbett. — Controversy  of  the 
"Wings," 83 


208 

CHAPTER    EIGHT. 

Repeal  of  the  Corporation  and  Test  Acts. — O'Connell  is  nominated 
for  the  Representation  of  Clare — The  first  Clare  Election. — Mr. 
Steel. — 0' Gorman  Mahon  and  Father  Maguire. — Passage  of  the 
Emancipation  Act. — O'Connell  in  St.  Stephens. — He  is  refused  a 
seat  under  the  new  Act,         .         .  .         ,        .        .      95 

CHAPTER    NINE. 

O'Connell  is  reelected  for  Clare. — View  of  the  State  of  Europe. — 
Various  successes  of  Revolutionary  Efforts. — Influence  of  the 
Emancipation  upon  the  Reform  of  Parliament. — Agitation. — Mo- 
tion for  a  Repeal  of  the  Union. — Death  of  George  the  Fourth. — His 
Reign,  and  its  History. — The  new  Irish  Representatives. — Sir 
Michael  O'Loghlen, 125 

CHAPTER    TEN. 

Irish  Transactions,  from  1830  to  '34.— The  Reform  Bill.— The  Aboli- 
tion of  Tithes  demanded. — The  Coercion  Bill. — Mr.  Wyse  and 
National  Education. — Dr.  Doyle  and  the  Poor-Laws. — Continuation 
of  the  Repeal  Agitation. — Motion  in  Parliament,  .        .        .     138 

CHAPTER    ELEVEN. 

Accession  of  the  Melbourne  Ministry. — The  Five  Years'  Truce  with 
England. — Orangeism. — The  Fruitlessness  of  Peace. — Revival  of 
Agitation. — Just  Judgment  of  the  Whigs,      ....     160 

CHAPTER    TWELVE. 

Anecdotes  of  the  Personal  Career  of  Mr.  O'Connell. — Various  opin- 
ions of  his  Public  Character. — View  of  his  Genius  and  its  Influence. 
— Conclusion, 182 

A  Glance  at  the  Future  Destiny  of  Ireland,    .        .        ,    196 


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